05-20-2007, 05:41 PM
I show the movie to my US History classes, so I know it pretty well. It's remarkable that having watched it dozens of times it still never fails to suck me in. It's amazingly well crafted, how each character has his own arc, and stays true to it. There's not a scene, not a word, that doesn't move the story along or flesh out the characters.
Every character -- except maybe Major Rawlins -- has his flaws. I think the brilliance of the movie is that Col Shaw's motives are so ambiguous. My take on it is, he's an officer, and he'll do what officers do. He's not a closeted racist, but not a fiery abolitionist, either. The movie glosses over his great reluctance to take command of the 54th -- in real life, he originally turned it down.
When he does take command, he's inspired by the men. When he has to fight for his men, you can see he's making a shift from doing what's expected of an officer, to doing what's right, and I think Broderick played that particularly well -- that sort of shaky fear he hides when he has to confront another officer.
Some people think Broderick/Shaw is the weakest part of the movie. I disagree. The movie isn't about Shaw, for one thing, and it's creepy that people today expect the one white man to be the central figure. Shaw was not Rambo, and I say kudos for that. Glory is about real heroism, not Hollywood heroics.
Every character -- except maybe Major Rawlins -- has his flaws. I think the brilliance of the movie is that Col Shaw's motives are so ambiguous. My take on it is, he's an officer, and he'll do what officers do. He's not a closeted racist, but not a fiery abolitionist, either. The movie glosses over his great reluctance to take command of the 54th -- in real life, he originally turned it down.
When he does take command, he's inspired by the men. When he has to fight for his men, you can see he's making a shift from doing what's expected of an officer, to doing what's right, and I think Broderick played that particularly well -- that sort of shaky fear he hides when he has to confront another officer.
Some people think Broderick/Shaw is the weakest part of the movie. I disagree. The movie isn't about Shaw, for one thing, and it's creepy that people today expect the one white man to be the central figure. Shaw was not Rambo, and I say kudos for that. Glory is about real heroism, not Hollywood heroics.