posted 01-31-2002 12:11 AM               

Glory is a wonderful film that brings the brutality and insanity of combat in the Civil War to life; it is also a highly fictionalized account of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first unit of black soldiers to see action during the war. Most of the characters other than Broderick's Robert Gould Shaw are composites are purely fictional creations; this movie can not be seen as a biography, docu-drama or anything of the sort. It does highlight the obstacles these soldiers had to overcome in order to gain the respect of their nation, through some excellent performances by Washington, Freeman, Jihmi Kennedy and Andrew Braugher.

The 54th Massachusetts was formed shortly after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a decision which transformed the Civil War from an attempt to put down southern insurrection to an effort to end slavery forever. Black leaders in the North such as Frederick Douglass argued that the only way that blacks could prove to the world that they deserved their freedom was if they fought and died to earn it; white abolitionists such as Massachusetts Governor John Andrews agreed, and ordered Shaw to build the regiment. Not everyone in the northern army felt this was a good idea, and northern racism kept the unit under-supplied, under-paid and out of action for months.

Glory does a great job with these small battles against racism, whether it be Shaw's efforts to get shoes for his troops or the soldiers' eagerness to wear 'the blue suit,' or Union uniform. One of the film's strengths is its characterizations; Shaw is unsure of himself, pushing himself and his men as hard as he can to be sure that they are as ready for combat as any white soldier. The determination puts him in any number of difficult situations, and often puts him at odds with his friend and second in command, played by Elwes - and it is not always clear if Shaw makes the right decisions. Likewise, the soldiers played by Washington, Freeman, Kennedy and Braugher have their own motivations for joining, their own self-images, and their own ideas of what it means to be black and free; those differing visions create tension and conflict throughout the film.

This should not detract from the skill with which Zwick directs the battle sequences, as these are very well done. In part this is due to the number of Civil War re-enactors who flocked to the film to offer advice, material, and their services as extras, but it also owes much to Zwick's approach to editing and camera work. The Civil War was probably the last major war to be fought under nineteenth century ideas of warfare, and the first to be fought with rifle technology. The combination was brutal. Existing canons of war held that an attacking unit would approach defenders en masse on foot, then close with the enemy line and fight hand to hand with bayonets. The new rifles and artillery, however, meant that defenders had plenty of time to accurately pick off attacking soldiers, firing multiple shots before the attackers ever had a real chance to engage. Casualties ran extremely high as a result, as Zwick shows here. Once the line is breached, and combat becomes a matter of bayonet fighting, Zwick does not fall victim to the choppy editing that so many action films have utilized for large scale combat; he keeps the camera on one soldier or group of soldiers for minutes rather than seconds at a time, and lets the viewer follow one entire sequence of combat before moving to the next. The speed and chaos of combat is accurately conveyed by the action itself, aided by the editing and the score by Horner. Thus the film succeeds on both the character and action levels, which is no small triumph.

As I mentioned, this film is highly fictionalized. That becomes clear in 'The True Story of Glory Continues' and 'Voices of Glory,' two of the featurettes included on the special edition DVD. The 54th had a number of additional engagements after the battle at Fort Wagner that serves as the film's climax, for example, as well as many non-commissioned officers. (The film suggests that Freeman's character is the only one.) The battle for equal pay, which gets a brief mention relatively early in the film, was a major issue for the soldiers, who pressed their case in letters to newspapers in the North. Excerpts from these letters are read in 'Voices of Glory,' thus letting the soldiers of the 54th tell a piece of their own story. 'The True Story of Glory,' narrated by Freeman, uses reenactments and photos to do the same; both are fine pieces, although I wish 'Voices' had been a little longer and covered topics beside the pay issue (as important as that issue is).

Director Zwick provides a nice audio commentary, excerpts of which are the basis for part of the picture-in-picture video commentary, which is made up of clips from commentaries/interviews that Broderick, Zwick and Freeman did separately. Zwick's commentary is informative about the film itself; Broderick's bits are decent but nothing special, while Freeman's is enlightening as to how he perceives the project and its effect on people's awareness of history. (A typical comment: "I have no month where I can talk about any such thing as black history. There is none. There is history. I'm in it, thank you very much." Have I mentioned I love Morgan Freeman? Although, to be fair, I think some of his own historical understanding is either limited or not articulated well in some of the clips.)