Monosyllabic Pedantry

Saturday, June 09, 2007

The 54th

I just finished watching Glory. I've seen it before but it's a good enough movie to see several times.
Being the big softy that I am, I was crying through a good piece of it. Keeping in mind the historical setting, the most moving parts of the movie for me were actually pretty subtle. When the black soldiers are allowed guns; when they are given uniforms; when they march through town with the other soldiers and make eye contact with the blacks in the crowd. You can see that this is not only a first, but a milestone. You feel the importance of it.
As they march through the south, the black folks line up along the road to watch them.

At the end of the movie, they have to attack fort Wagner, which involves crossing about a quarter mile of open beach with the confederate cannon pointed down at them. They know they are going to take heavy casualties.

There's one scene that I wish they had, but they didn't. It would go like this:
SGT (Morgan Freeman): What are you here fighting for?
Soldiers: Our Freedom!
SGT: No, you're not. Let me tell you. Whether we win or lose; whether you die or live; you are not fighting for your freedom, because, no matter what, you will not get your freedom.
Remember those little black children that lined up along the road?
You are fighting and dying for their freedom.

UPDATE: How sweet is this? After the movie ended, I woke up Mrs Schwartz to give her time to get ready for our fancy dinner. On the way to the restaurant, I was recounting the movie to her and how powerful it is. At one point she said that it's very upsetting, I responded with "I know! You should have seen it!"
Just as we parked in front of the restaurant, she said she couldn't go in. HEARING about the movie had made her so upset, that she was nauseous. After a time, we went into the restaurant, but she couldn't eat any of her meal and had to duck into the ladies room three times, because she felt sick. We boxed up her food and ate it the next day.
Remember, this is just from hearing about it from me!

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1 Comments:

  • In high school, the marching band played Glory one year. We were very close to walking away with the championship that year. Great music. I can still play many songs from Glory by heart on my saxophone given the opportunity...

    By Blogger Plimco, at 11:32 AM  

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