Glory is no irony.

Rating: Null/10 (14 April 2009)

Glory is the historical true story based on the first ever all-African American regiment who fought for the North American Civil War. The cast is assembled with Matthew Broderick, Gary Elwes, Morgan Freeman and an Oscar Winning Performance for Best Supporting Actor - Denzel Washington.
Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Broderick) and Maj. Cabot Forbes (Elwes) guide the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts. They are both young and enthusiastic Bostonians. Sgt. Major. John Rawlins (Freeman) unites the troops; and Pvt. Trip (Washington) is the runaway rebellious slave who embodies the strength of the regiment. The black regiment gamble sacrifice so they can gain respect and freedom and attempt to fight for equality.
I consider this as a very favourable war film as there are constant heart stopping and evocative moments which make it appealing from start to finish. The film is focused on dignity, battles, emotional growth, brotherhood, solidarity, race, determination, equality and most importantly sacrifice. There is also a lot of optimism in the film and I witnessed the regiment unite together and stand as one despite all their differences. These are all common elements in war films but I feel "Glory" made a bigger impact on me than many of its contemporaries.
The 54thth Massachusetts regiment are treated unfairly compared to any ordinary regiment. They struggle to gain respect and are ordered to do the impossible during training. This gets them prepared and stronger than any other ordinary regiment. I am impressed how touching this portrayal is and my sympathy towards the characters was very strong. None of the primary characters featured in the 54th are real, with the exception of Shaw (Broderick). The fictional characters still seemed to be very realistic and I can imagine many characters were similar in the regiment. Prior to watching "Glory" I wasn't fully aware of the story and how much of an impact it has on American history. The history created in this film feels very realistic and I consider myself very fortunate compared to the suffering these men had to go through.
I feel director Edward Zwick's intentions were to make the film entertaining as well as educational, and he certainly succeeded with this. The dialogue also feels very pragmatic and I'm sure many people will be able to relate to it, especially those who have military experience. My one complaint with "Glory" is the fighting scenes. I didn't feel it expressively engaged me as much as the dialogue did. The choreography could have been a lot better and it stood out as quite weak to me compared to the story. However, "Glory" was released in 1989 and I did feel the cinematography is quite impressive in relation to blockbusters released in recent years, so I do give a lot of credibility for that.
To conclude with this review I feel this is an important film to watch and I wasn't disappointed with it at all. It is a true story that has a real meaning. Edward Zwick concentrates on emotions in his films and the actors really managed to captivate this in the production. The film isn't too graphic like most war films which is a refreshing change and one of the main reasons I enjoyed this. I hope you will too.