The 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, consisting of black soldiers (some of them are Northern freeman, some of them are escaped slaves) who are led by whites, one of them being Robert Gould Shaw. For those of you that don't know who Shaw is, he is the son of Boston abolitionists. Since this was a time of slavery, everyone had the belief that black soldiers would not be good soldiers. True fact: Blacks were widely believed to not make good soldiers and would not listen when disciplined under fire. However, the 54th had been in one of the most violent battles in the war on July 18, 1863. That battle was an uphill attack against the Confederate in Charleston, South Carolina, across a ground that was muddy. They had suffered a lot, mainly due to how their fighting strategies that were ordering the soldiers to keep marching into the gunfire, which is why this was suicidal. However, with the soldiers doing what they were told and obeying the orders, it encouraged the North to recruit more black soldiers, which were 180,000, and this might have helped the war out a lot.
"Glory" tells this story of the 54th Regiment, which a huge portion of the movie being seen through Shaw, played by Matthew Broderick, who you will see earlier that he is scared from all the violence he is seeing out on the battlefield.
Once he comes back home to heal from his injuries, he is told that he is being recruited to lead a new black regiment. Even though his family shows their doubts about leading black soldiers, by leaving the room, Shaw still takes the job.
He knows that it’s his men's decision if they want to show Shaw that they are capable of fighting in the Civil War. A good thing that came out of this is his men are able to give him a look into the black race and human nature. Note that this takes place a century before the whole civil rights movement. The soldiers that eventually become the leaders of the 54th are an escaped slave, Trip, who is played by one of the best actors ever in this time period, Denzel Washington, and a gravedigger first seen meeting Shaw injured on the battlefield, John Rawlins, played by Morgan Freeman.
These men are proud to be soldiers, proud to wear the uniform and proud to accept the racism they witness in their surroundings, like when a decision has to be made of whether white soldiers get paid more than black. They argue that blacks march the same distance, bleed the same amount and die just as quickly so why should they be paid less for doing the same amount of work? Shaw and his right hand man, Cabot, who is played by another great actor, Cary Elwes, come to see eye-to-eye with the black soldiers as to why they refuse their paychecks and join to support their men into refusing theirs as well and backing them up as to why they are refusing it. This can be called the climax to the film because it joins the men and officers together into having mutual trust. Ebert argues, “But there are countless smaller scenes that do the same thing, including one in which Shaw is pointedly told by one of his men that when the war is over, nothing much will have changed: "You'll go back to your big house."” "Glory" was directed by Edward Zwick, designed by Norman Garwood, and photographed by Freddie Francis. A good amount of attention was given to detail, like when minor moments such as the shoes given to the soldiers (Ebert notes, “they don't come in right and left, but get to be that way after you've worn them long enough”) and the little ones lead up to the big details. For instance, look at the scene when poor black sharecroppers look wondering to see the black soldiers in uniform march past their homes. Also, Raymond St. Jacques is in here briefly as Frederick Douglass. Every little detail that leads to the larger details perfectly join together to lead up the final battle, which is another suicidal march up a hill. This time, it accomplishes very minor on military terms, but is important to the film.
Ebert noted, “Watching "Glory," I had one recurring problem. I didn't understand why it had to be told so often from the point of view of the 54th's white commanding officer. Why did we see the black troops through his eyes - instead of seeing him through theirs? To put it another way, why does the top billing in this movie go to a white actor? I ask, not to be perverse, but because I consider this primarily a story about a black experience and do not know why it has to be seen largely through white eyes. Perhaps one answer is that the significance of the 54th was the way in which it changed white perceptions of black soldiers (changed them slowly enough, to be sure, that the Vietnam War was the first in American history in which troops were not largely segregated). "Glory" is a strong and valuable film no matter whose eyes it is seen through. But there is still, I suspect, another and quite different film to be made from this same material.”
Morgan Freeman has even said when he was on Inside the Actors Studio, "'Glory' was a true story. Totally, totally true." Probably to Morgan, it was the most important work that he has done because America learned something. He claims that a lot of people wept because they didn't know that. Obviously, Morgan enjoyed working with Denzel. He said, "I don't think you can be better than the person you are working with. So if people say, 'you were great,' well it was because you were with greatness."
Do stay tuned for more film reviews for Black History Month, although tomorrow I will be reviewing a film that is very special to watch every year on February 2nd. You might even know which film I'm saying.
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