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Glory is, without question, one of the best movies ever made about the American Civil War (a.k.a. "The War Between the States"). it is the way in which the filmmakers weave an impressively large historical tapestry without ever losing sight of the characters that make up the individual threads. Glory has important things to say, yet it does so without becoming pedantic. For the most part, the official history texts written about the Civil War ignore the participants of African Americans in the war effort. In fact, nearly 200,000 fought for the North, and, at one point, the South issued a declaration that any black man taken prisoner in a Union uniform would be summarily executed. Glory tells the story of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the "trial balloon" for black soldiers. Commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick), the regiment was comprised entirely of African Americans – some of whom were ex-slaves – willing to fight for the North. The U.S. government was undecided about how to use black soldiers. At first, the army intended to use them only for manual labor, but, later in the war, some saw combat. The Massachusetts 54th began a long and proud tradition in the United States army of black units acquitting themselves admirably on the battlefield, despite rarely being given their due by their fellow white soldiers. What began with the 54th regiment continued throughout the Civil War and through two world wars. The greatest achievement of the 54th was to prove to the army that black soldiers could be relied upon to fight with the same tenacity and patriotism as white soldiers.
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