Edward Zick's "Glory" is an Oscar winning movie based on Colonel Robert Gould Shaw's 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Overall, the bravery of the African Americans surprised me. When Shaw announced that the Confederacy was going to execute anybody who was involved in the African American army, I thought there would be none left. However, they all stayed. Also: Since the African Americans had not been in battle before, I believed that they would run away during war. They were not used to taking lives or seeing their friends die on the battlefield. However, they did well and did not "chicken" out.
Though the movie is based on real facts, anything that happened in the movie was heart-felt and slightly too dramatic. For example, after Shaw announces what the Confederate Army would do with any prisoners that were related to the training of African American soldiers, there is a scene where Rawlings is standing in the rain, having a thought of what is to happen. After that, when Shaw asks Sergeant Mulcahey if any were left, he walks and takes a right, only to find the whole regiment saluting him. There is also a scene when Thomas gets shot. He begs Shaw to promise him that he would not be sent home. Otherwise, the racism, unfair treatment, and labor of the African American soldiers were realistically portrayed.
All in all, Glory taught me about what real warfare was like in the 19th century and the life of an African American soldier.
I agree that some things in the movie may have been a bit dramatic based on the examples you provided, but not anything that happened in the movie was heart-felt and slightly too dramatic. The battles in the movie weren't dramatic at all because during war, people are dying left and right. These are actually events that happen during a battle. Although it may be dramatic in our opinion, it is actually reality in war. We've never experienced fighting in a war or anything of the kind, so we're not used to seeing such brutal and extreme events such as these. Therefore, it would seem like this movie is exaggerating or dramatic when it really is very realistic.
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