One of the best of all time

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2011)

It surprises you, through some superb casting (Frederick Douglass looks almost identical to his portrait for example) and all round solid acting you see through the eyes of many.
The face of the defiant trip, as his shirt is ripped from his back, the scars revealed and the whip unleashed.
Shaw comes off as a dick to begin with, he is young, not a hardened vet, yet his reasons for it in the end are very clear. They were not slaves, they were given freedom but then enlisted which effectively gave it away. They did it to fight for the right for others to have it. He owed it to them to make them into a hardened troop.
All round classic and would recommend to anyone. The fighting and war scenes are all quite well managed if not epic, the story is by far strong enough on its own.