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- Critique Talk
Glory
Monday, October 13, 2008, 23:56
Right, so it was over the weekend when a friend of mine handed me this movie. It’s nothing recent and in fact, it’s pretty old considering it was released in 1989.
Glory, a period war movie set in 19th century America during the peak of the Civil war, was directed by Edward Zwick and featured a talented cast comprising of Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington to name a few.
This 122 minute long movie is a true story based on the letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. It recounts the exploits of “Colonel Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Regiment, the first regular army regiment of black soldiers commissioned during the Civil War.”
Despite the R rating for its violence and profanity, Glory is more than just an action packed movie. It’s also a source of enlightenment for what happened in certain aspects of the Civil War.
Often, history has portrayed the American Civil War to be one that was fought solely by the whites and perhaps a handful of Native Americans. Few movie depictions, if any, had accounts of blacks playing a pivotal role during the war. At the very most, they were individuals in a white regiment- such as in the movie, The Patriot.
However, what this movie aims to do is to not only entertain the public, but also to dispel any notion of the inadequate participations of the African Americans during the Civil War that public might have formed – especially those who aren’t well versed in American history, such as people from other countries.
It gives us a factual account of the formation of the Massachusetts 54th and how they had garnered respect and recognition for their race. Initially plagued with ridicule and skepticisms over their abilities due to the colour of their skin, the regiment soon overcame these prejudices and proved that they were equal if not better than other regiments. In fact, they considered to be the best coloured regiment in existence during that era.
During the period of the movie’s release, African Americans were rarely given significant positive coverage in the media – often they were stereotyped as drug peddling gangsters, abusive parents, etc… basically a nuisance to society.
If you were to ask me what values we could learn from this movie, I would reply with this – values that we as humans should strive for :
• Tolerance – racial unity, not hatred, allowed the regiment to achieve its status (Colonel Shaw was a white office in charge of a coloured regiment)
• Perseverance – despite being faced with racial prejudices, the regiment overcame this through their deeds and won respect and recognition as a result.
• Courage – faced with overwhelming odds at the climatic battle at Fort Wagner, the regiment fought on with zeal despite having lost their commanding officer. A soldier even braved bullets and was wounded seriously twice while rescuing the Union Flag.
• Patriotism- though their ancestors were first brought to America as slaves, these coloured men held no grudges to the country and even volunteered to serve in the army on their own free will.
Though I’m no American, I felt a fleeting sense of patriotism, reminding me National Service days (the mind has a way of romanticizing even the most unpleasant memories).
This is probably in no small part due to the creative language (cinematography) used in the movie. The music, which was composed by James Horner, did a superb work of rousing the spirit at apt occasions. Even the tagline used for the movie, “Their innocence. Their heritage. Their lives. Nothing would be spared in the fight for their freedom.” Inspires some sort untainted aggression born out of necessity to protect something you hold dear to your heart.
Perhaps the only problem with Glory is that they failed to include one message – the perspective of the coloured soldiers. The entire movie was narrated in the perspective of a white officer, which doesn’t give an accurate account of the how the coloured soldiers felt, since this movie was really about them. Rather, it gave an account of how Colonel Shaw thought they felt. But, in the truth, the creators probably didn’t have much of a choice in the decision to create the movie this way as most of the information regarding the Massachusetts 54th were from Colonel Shaw’s letters. To do otherwise might result in an inaccurate portrayal of the movie.
All in all, a good watch. If you’re at the video rental store and you’re looking for something to watch over the weekend, you might want to consider this movie.
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