Glory (Movie) Essay, Research Paper

I thought that Glory was an excellent movie. It really helped me to understand the importance of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts a little more. I think that Col. Robert Shaw (Matthew Broderrick) had a very tough position the whole time in the movie. More so in the beginning and middle than in the end, though. I think that because he had very tough decisions to make, not about what to do with the whole regiment, but more of what to do with some of his friends. Like Thomas for instance. Thomas was Shaw s friend before he became Col. Over the 54th Regiment. But after he became Col., Shaw thought that he had to treat Thomas like a soldier and not like a friend. He even treated his other friend (Cary Elwes) the same way, except with a little more respect because he was higher ranked. That whole part kind of made me mad.

The parts that made me happy were when Shaw stood up to the quartermaster and got the shoes that he needed for all of his men. It made me happy when Shaw stood up to the Gen. and made him assign his regiment somewhere that they could fight. I especially loved it when he black mailed the Gen. into doing so. The last thing that made me happy was when Shaw stood up to his commanding officer when he was ordered to burn down the town but didn t do so because it was immoral.

I thought that Shaw had really changed toward his men by the end of the movie. I knew that he had changed when he volunteered his men to lead the first attack on the fort. That really showed that he trusted that his men were ready and able to make an attack like that. It showed that he knew that they were capable of the doing the job the same if not better as the white soldiers. And it showed how much courage they all had.