Glory (1989)

John Chard February 5, 2019

★ 10/10

And there wouldn't be nothing but rebs dyin if they'd let the fifty-fourth in it. Based around the actual letters sent by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw to his parents, this Civil War picture tells the story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black regiment to fight under the American flag. Led by their white leader (Shaw), they must overcome bigotry, in fighting and the war itself, and this just to feel like men of honour. The most striking thing about Glory is that it is never over sentimental. With the subject to hand it would have been easy for the makers to over egg the pudding and rely solely on a racialist stance purely for impact. What we do get is actually a candidate for one of the most politically correct war films to have ever been made. It's harsh and at times heart tugging, that in fact is certainly true, but the narrative never veers from the core essence of me…

Filipe Manuel Neto July 20, 2023

★ 9/10

**An excellent film that deserves to be revisited and brought back from oblivion.** For me, as a historian, this film couldn't be more interesting. It's not your average war movie, with soldiers running and shooting, and heroism spilling over from bloody deaths. It is much sharper and deeper because it talks about a topic that is treated with excessive ease when talking about the American Civil War: racism. And it's a shame that it's another relatively forgotten film these days. Really, if we think about it and are faithful to the mentality of the time, it cannot be said that the Civil War was a war against racism, because it was everywhere and in the Northern states, which were mostly against slavery, there was a strong racism that revealed itself in other ways. If in the South African-Americans were only good for slave labor, in the North they had to stay between the factory and …

CinemaSerf March 22, 2025

★ 6/10

Based on historical fact and on letters written to his parents by Col. Robert Gould Shaw, this dramatises the creation of the first all-black regiment in the Union army that fought in the US Civil War. It was created as the Confederacy looked dominant and there was an element of desperation, rather than because the army had great faith in this new squad, but the newly promoted Shaw had faith in these men. What now ensues illustrates that their foes were not just those wearing grey uniforms, but that their own side was fairly sceptical as to their effectiveness. Indeed, one of the first tasks for Shaw (Matthew Broderick) is to equip them. With shoes. With socks. With basics. What’s also clear here is that these men are not all of the same mind, either, and that’s well enough demonstrated by Sgt. Mjr. Rawlins (a powerful effort from Morgan Freeman), Pte. Trip (Denzel Washington) as wel…

kevin2019 November 21, 2025

★ 10/10

"Glory" is an extremely important film and you can only hope it is historically accurate. It ought to be with the wealth of material widely available and historians knowlegable in the period being called upon to advise, assist and guide the production. They have contributed to putting a tremendous film on screen which looks suitably authentic and the battle scenes once more reaffirm how futile war always is, especially when you look across sand dunes absolutely littered with the broken corpses of dead soldiers. The price they are prepared to pay on our behalf should deeply humble each one of us. It is much too high and it is indeed a sad and depressing indicment of the world we live in when our society demands such enormous sacrifices as these of people regardless of their color, creed, gender, nationality or race.