Very emotional film to watch

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2007)

I find it sad that no-one really knew about the 54th Maschusetts till this film came out. I certainly had no idea about the 54th and never knew there were black soldiers fighting in the war which to me is shocking. Those soldiers may not have taken Fort Wagner but they were brave and didn't flinch from the duty they volunteered for, no matter the treatment they endured by their own side.
The film has many multi-layered strands that are explored in this movie. One, this had never been done before, black soldiers fighting in the war and they had a lot more to prove than the white soldiers. Totally unfair.
Two, they had death threats from the Confederate Army who said they would not capture them but kill them on sight.
Three, the racism they faced in their own army. The Northerners liked to think they were better than the Southerners because they didn't have slaves and they would never treat them the way the Southerners did but they were just as bad as the South and this is shown in the film when the black soldiers are denied boots, uniforms, they are used for manual labour and don't see any fighting and are given less wages than the white soldiers.
Then we have the stories of soldiers where we see them grow into completely different people to when the film started. The actors are in one word, brilliant. I can't stop raving about them. I wouldn't like to say more because I can't put into any other meaningful words how well they fit into the characters.
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) finds himself overwhelmed with the responsibility of getting the men up to the task but at times finds himself doubting his abilities. There has been made mention Broderick's age and acting in this film but he was the perfect actor to play the role. For one, he looks like Shaw and for another, he was about the age Shaw was when he was given command. He plays Shaw just right, not too understated and not too over the top.
Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) is the wise man who is like a father figure to the soldiers who rely on him and also Shaw looks to Rawlins for his advice on the men.
Trip (Denzel Washington) starts off defiant. He wants to fight in the war but he also is scarred by his past as a slave and doesn't trust Shaw or any other white man. I didn't think I would feel any compassion about him as he is nasty to some of his fellow soldiers but I grew to like him very much and you see a softer side to him near the end when he admits to his fellow soldiers they are the only family he has now. I like to think at the end, he trusted Shaw because he picks up the colours which he said he didn't want to do when asked by Shaw earlier in the film.
Thomas (Andre Braugher) is a free black man who has lived in the North for most, if not, all of his life. He has never been a slave but is well educated and finds himself an outsider in the regiment because he has had an easier life then his fellow soldiers but you see him grow up in this film, he starts off as a little boy but by the end of it, he is a man who can face anything.
Major Forbes (Cary Elwes) knows that there is no-way the Army will let them fight and you can see how he genuinely cares for these men. He and Shaw find it hard to establish a different type of relationship with Thomas then they are used to as before they were friends.
This is a very emotional film to watch. It has many highs and lows and you have these foreboding feelings in the pit of your stomach when Shaw volunteers his men for basically, a suicide mission to Fort Wagner. You know that these men you have watched from the beginning and have rooted for will die and it is hard to watch when it happens. The scene that particularly upsets me is when these brave, courageous soldiers are dead, they are just chucked into a mass grave and the most moving scene for me is when the dead bodies of Trip and Shaw are thrown together in the mass grave. That had me in tears the most.
The 54th got praise for what they did at Fort Wagner and after but they were treated very badly, they were not invited to the parades to welcome the soldiers back at the end of the war and there was no help given to them to recover from it either. It does highlight that racism occurred in the military, not just in this war but in other wars before and after the American Civil War where people of different colour were treated as if they were not even human.
Love the film but if you're a girl, you will need tissues by your side.