April 1863: Two men view the American Civil War from very different perspectives.For Confederate Captain Beauregard Whitemore the war is a gallant and romantic confirmation of the Southern "cause". For Union Private Jim Simpson it has become an endless nightmare of bloodshed and carnage.
When they unexpectedly cross paths in the wilderness they are forced to confront their differences while ultimately discovering how much they really have in common.Despite being enemies they find themselves simply men trying to survive and get home to their loved ones.
Of
A Common Bond began life as a four-minute 8nnm film back in
1976 and has become somewhat of an obsession for Freedom Productions
over the years.It has continued to grow and develop and has been
shot many times in many different formats. It's been shot in color
and black & white. There have been film versions and video
versions. It was expanded to feature length and contracted back
to a short subject. One version was set in the snow, another in
a driving rain storm. Some versions were never completed and others
have gone on to win national awards. The one constant is that
Scott Freiheit, Steven T. Perkins and Tim Murphy have appeared
in all of the versions except the very first one.
The current version (1997) is a twenty-minute color short and incorporates many of the finest elements of the piece which has grown organically over a twenty year span of time. Whether this is the final version of the story remains to be seen but it always seems to resonate with audiences in whatever format it's been presented in. For its longevity it holds a very special place in the history of Freedom Productions.
