Glorious

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2001)

This is probably the best movie about the Civil War ever made. It doesn't seem to be afraid to show the truth. What an amazing concept. This film shows how much the blacks were hated in the North also. The Union soldiers did not want to see the blacks taking their position or doing a better job of fighting. That is why they encountered so much hostility from their own side. It also showed the hatred for the Confederates by the North, mainly some of the higher ranking officers. (They called them Secessionists because it made them sound so much less patriotic. They did not want the Southerners seen as their own country, but as uncivilized rebels.) Many people from the North saw the creation of the 54th as a political manuver, not as a way to help the blacks be a part of the government system. There were also many people who wanted to help the blacks get ahead, and saw this as an opportunity to get them on equal ground with the whites. I was concerned when I first saw this film that it would be overly P.C. and try to show all Northerners as loving of all mankind and the Southerners as a group of brain dead hicks bent on killing and enslaving all blacks. This was a wonderful departure from that and was well acted, filmed, directed, and written. A good movie for anyone who is interested in the Civil War as it happened, not as many historians like to say it happened. Wonderful performances by all, especially Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes, and Andre Braugher. 8/10.