Reveals a Deeper Truth

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2018)

Upon watching, I noticed that this movie portrays the 54th as made up mostly of runaway slaves like Private Trip (Denzel Washington) or John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman). However, it was in fact comprised of many freedmen like Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher) not just from Massachusetts, but New York and Pennsylvania as well. This to me actually reveals the deeper truth about black soldiers in the Civil War, and the attitude towards blacks in general at the time. Southerners believed that blacks were naturally servile, and even Northern abolitionists questioned their manly spirit. By portraying the 54th as runaway slaves, Glory was able to illustrate the fact that blacks were not natural slaves, but men who were in many cases even more willing to fight and die for their freedom than white soldiers. A very solid point that couldn't have been made without poetic license on the director's part, even if that meant stretching history a bit.