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Stephanie Beck
April 9, 1997
Prof. Deutch
Glory captures the heroism of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the
first black
regiment in the Civil War, the Massachusetts "Fighting" Fifty-fourth.
An
extremely talented cast and crew earned three Academy Awards
(cinematography,
sound and supporting actor) and five nominations for their work in
Glory. The
outstanding cinematography, sound, score and acting recreate the events
leading
up to the Union attack on Fort Wagner on July 18th 1863.
Matthew Broderick portrays the young Bostonian abolitionist Col.
Robert G.
Shaw who takes command of the Fifty-fourth, following the Emancipation
Proclamation. Shaw along with Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes) leads a band
of ex
slaves, servants and other black volunteers including a rebellious
runaway slave
Trip (Denzel Washington), Shaw's educated childhood friend Thomas
Searles (Andre
Braugher), and a former grave digger Rawlins (Morgan Freeman).
Together these
men face the adversity of a racist Union Army, struggling to prove
themselves
worthy of their government issued blue uniforms.
After months of training and exploitation for physical labor, the
Fifty-
fourth gains the opportunity to fight in an attack on Fort Wagner on
the beaches
of South Carolina. Poised to dispel the belief that blacks would not be
disciplined under fire, the Fifty-fourth leads the almost suicidal
attack on Ft.
Wagner. There Col. Shaw valiantly falls and the Fifty-fourth,
suffering great
losses, displayed the courage that persuaded the Union to enlist many
more black
soldiers.
Matthew Broderick delivers a noteworthy performance in the role of
Col.
Shaw, which Leonard Maltin calls his most ambitious part. In an
interview for
the New York Times, Broderick spoke of his method acting,
"The first step [in preparing for the role of Robert Gould Shaw in
Glory]
was to try to learn as much as I could about the real person. That was
mostly
from letters, photographs, descriptions and a poem by Emerson. The
thing I had
to do was bring myself into that situation. I didn't want to be an
imitation of
what I thought Shaw must have been like."
Bibliography