Zwick's nigh on, indeed, 'glorious' exploration of the setting up of a certain military company during The American Civil War often makes for involving viewing.

Rating: 7/10 (29 November 2010)

Glory begins by plunging us into the forefront of the American Civil War; a crash landing which sees a rather brutal battle sequence thrust upon us from the off which sticks with us. It provides us with what we presume to be a lead character; lingers on the aftermath of war and what it does to people physically, not shying away from anything, before plunging us again headlong into a separate battle unfolding within the realms of The Civil War; this one more related to people and a specific cause of fighting than the warfare itself. Edward Zwick's film is an affectionate retelling of a company of men, under white leadership, consisting entirely of black soldiers fighting for the Union Army in said conflict; an exploration amongst many things of identity further still within the company, and a respectful retelling of the true story of how ethical equality became apparent as whites and blacks fought together and died together on a level plain.
Zwick casts, bravely given the time and the sorts of roles the actor was usually better known for, Matthew Broderick as the Union Army colonel named Robert Shaw; a sense of perspective, although deceptively so, established to revolve around this man as he leads his army's charge into battle against the Confederate Army – passing out in the process after garnering an injury and then having a confrontative sequence in a medical tent of another man's leg amputation shot from his point of view. The casting ends up being better than it has any right to be, an important scene seeing Broderick required to intimidate a recruit into reloading his rifle and firing it quicker than he's already doing so by way of firing off his own pistol a mere arm's length from the man's ear. The sense of Shaw being of this authoritarian ilk whom demands the best results possible, and is unashamed of getting them through whatever means, is evident here; if the casting of Broderick didn't work then this specific sequence would not have worked. Shaw is our anchor; his voice-overs updating us with precisely how he feels complete with angelic diary entries offering a definitive viewpoint from a higher-up, but it is around these things which the true tale of a group of people, indeed a race of people, is unfolded in a really engaging manner.
Shaw's task, he being amongst the top in Union Army leaders, is to take charge of a new company of black troops which is being established following grossly affecting decisions by the higher-ups of the American government. It's through this later on that we come to realise there is no lead, merely a dramatic and informative retelling of how The Civil War affected race relations and had an impact on a nation's attitudes towards such a thing. The wider acceptance of this new division and the tasking of getting these new recruits into shape so as to be led into battle forms the greater extent of the picture, something Zwick executes with enough punch to save it from being some kind of equal rights lecture or melodramatic tale of being 'as-one'. But the trek is tough, and fraught with issues and difficulties; early on, the wider opinion of where it would seem many-a Union personnel stand on the issue of a Company of black soldiers arrives in the form of a racist trooper coming to the conclusion that "it's better to go to war with a hog than a Negro" for the reason that "at least you can eat the hog".
What follows is a tough, gritty and thoroughly engaging march through the military system for the characters involved as one's worth is proved, climaxing in a charge into battle that sees everybody reading from the same page, regardless of colour, during which white soldiers and black soldiers surge into battle together; as established the previous night: their emotions and fears the same. For the first time in history, we feel, a sense of togetherness or being at one with one another's respective race as they partake in the same action; attempting to attain the same goals; feeling the same feelings. The principal soldiers of whom we follow in this new regiment are a certain Trip (Washington); another man named Jupiter Sharts (Kennedy); an ageing gravedigger named Rawlins (Freeman) and a more informed, more educated man named Searles (Braugher) who was the first to volunteer but finds the early Army life the toughest amongst everyone else. Their struggles are in direct comparison to that of Shaw and his own disagreements with his second in command; the drill Sergeant, whom is seems abuses the new recruits based on their race more than anything as well as those of a far higher disposition within the military whom it seems lend themselves towards corruption.
Zwick's attention to character is equally immersing, at once the soldiers just wanting to know when it is they are permitted to attain "the blue of the uniform" before much later on having to question their own dedication to a cause that sees them pillage a village and partake in such gut-wrenching activity. The film's allowing of the black soldiers a voice or an identity in the uniform itself, before bringing things back so as to have them question this newfound state of identity bringing fresh, rich dynamics to what might have been a routine tale of how times changed during a famous war and attitudes merely shifted with them. In hindsight, and from what I've seen of Zwick's other work, his ability to tell a politically motivated story under a guise of half-decent adventure entertainment without being exploitative is evident in Africa's diamond trade and the threat of domesticised terrorism within the United States in 2006's Blood Diamond and 1998's The Siege respectively. Regardless of where you stand on those two, Glory somewhat impressively marking the beginnings of this ability he has to tackle such ideas in an engaging and accessible manner.