Glory is a sentimental yet grandly scoped Civil War recreation about the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts—the Union’s first Black and other POC regiment—and their gruesome losses at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. Based on two novels and the real Col. Robert Gould Shaw’s personal letters, Glory follows the titular regiment’s commanding officer Shaw (Matthew Broderick) from his forming the regiment to his fatal but historically significant end. Focusing primarily on Shaw’s growth as a leader, his personal relationships with the soldiers and their relationships amongst each other—notably from the (all fictitious) order-abiding Sergeant Major John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), enraged Private Tripp (Denzel Washington), Shaw’s friend Corp. Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher), and second-in-command and other friend Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes)—audiences see the trauma of both war in general and the racist tension between Union white and Black soldiers during the Civil War. Without demeaning Shaw’s position, given that his parents essentially gave him his command role, Shaw must contend with newly freed but untrained troops, the in-Union tensions his Black troops unfortunately bring, the institutionalized racism working against his team and the gritty, brutal reality that is war in the 1860s: no serious wound medicine, barely any food and water, nothing but the promise of death and destruction, and cheap shoes—all without degrading his men more than they’ve already been.
To put it simply, Glory impeccably balances between human bonds’ beauties and war’s horrors. Director Edward Zwick hones in on the star power of his cast, and thanks to a delicately sentimentalized script that doesn’t usually over-blow, it’s the film’s greatest strength. Broderick is sturdily hearty as Shaw, ensuring that the man’s equitably striving heart shines through: “We fight for men and women, whose poetry is not yet written, but which will presently be as enviable and as renowned as any,” he writes hopefully to his parents in Glory’s march-filled opening. While he’s certainly naive to the point of mistreating his men—even needing a stern verbal slap from Major Forbes from time to time—he wants to fairly prepare his men as men instead of animals. The anti-popularity that will surely arise amongst white colleagues thus only encourages him: “You know how popular that’ll be, handing out guns to 1,000 coloreds?” Forbes initially asks a reluctant Shaw when Shaw’s initially offered the commanding role, to which he resoundingly answered “I’ll do it,” chest puffed out and shoulders raised out of such an encouraging statement. Seeing him grow as a leader is engaging, both because of his equitable optimism and Broderick’s grounded portrayal. Combine that with loads of smart imagery—Blacks being rounded up like cattle when they’re initially told to sign up to fight, shoved around and having papers similarly shoved in their faces when most verbally confirm they can’t even read/write—breathtaking cinematography, intriguing personalities amongst the troops, an orchestral backdrop and weighted action, and Glory makes for one hell of a thoughtful war pic.
Overall, while there are some significantly corny monologues or one-liners that restrict this from being glorious, Glory is a detailed, character-driven war epic about the good in the worst of circumstances—especially given the real-time follow-up, where President Abraham Lincoln signed into law that African Americans be allowed in the army nationwide in 1863, which tilted the war in their favor from then on. While it’s unclear how accurate this fictionalized retelling is to Col. Shaw’s real personality and values and the real events, for war pic fans, Civil War fans, fans of any of the aforementioned stars or action fans, Glory is a hopeful pick.
Glory
1989
dir. Edward Zwick
120 min.
Digital restoration screens Sunday, 2/16, 2:00 pm @ Coolidge Corner Theatre
Part of the ongoing repertory series: Icons
