Exceptional Civil War-set story of religious differences.

Warm, gently satiric portrait of a family of the "Friendly persuasion" living in the shadow of the Civil War… does justice neither to Quakerism nor to just-war theory, but its warm affection for its subjects makes it worthwhile viewing.

William Wyler’s film has a promising introduction that chews on a notion of people being unable to know what they’d do under duress until tested. Too bad it drowns that notion in nearly 100 subsequent minutes of largely inconsequential and comic episodes.

Friendly Persuasion tests religious convictions in this Civil War drama.