I always knew that African Americans had to face a lot of discrimination, but seeing the poor treatment they received from other white soldiers and the little respect they had was more than I imagined.  This made me think of how others loathed the 54th simply since they were black, and made me sad.  I was very surprised that the African American soldiers decided to stay and fight when they could have just easily been free men.  Plus, the training they received was very harsh and cruel, and I was surprised to see the men bear it and still want to continue to return and fight.  I guess their trainer was not much tougher than their slave owners.
      Even though I thought the movie was realistic, it still did not seem like a true war back in history.  It was a little bit too dramatic for it to be realistic.  I'm pretty sure war was a lot different back then.  Also, I felt sympathy for the soldiers and colonel Shaw, who had to deal with disadvantages and less privialges, such as having no shoes, being paid less than they should, and not being allowed to fight.
       Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and was saddened to see all the deaths at the end.