Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) is a captain in the US Army at the Battle of Antietam. While leading his men toward the Confederate lines, he is wounded and left on the battlefield when the Union forces retreat. He awakens to see John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), who is digging graves for the dead. While being treated for his injury, he learns that Lincoln is preparing the Emancipation Proclamation. Back in Boston to recover, Shaw is offered command of the proposed all-black regiment by Governor John Andrew (Alan North). Shaw accepts and a regiment is recruited. Among the recruits are John Rawlins, Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher), Jupiter Sharts (Jihmi Kennedy), and Silas Trip (Denzel Washington).
The 54th has many obstacles to overcome before it can be sent to fight. First, they must learn to march and shoot. Then there is the trouble in getting uniforms and other gear. The constant concern is that black soldiers will be left to do manual labor rather than actual fighting. Eventually, the regiment heads south and is assigned to foraging duty with an undisciplined all-black regiment under Colonel Montgomery (Cliff De Young). Determined to be sent into battle, Shaw uses his family contacts to make it so. The 54th fights its first engagement at Grimball's Landing. For the finale, Shaw volunteers for the Forlorn Hope against Fort Wagner which is protecting Charleston Harbor.
Denzel Washington won his first Oscar for this role and it is clear why. He brings Silas Trip to life, a former slave who both wants to fight yet doesn't hold much regard for whites, even those who have been dying to free those like him. He is all callouses and scar tissue, a man who basks in the disdain of his fellows. However, the growing comradery with his tent mates and the recognition he receives for his bravery in battle transform him. The prickly loner has become a valued member of the regiment. He is now a man at peace with himself as he faces a grim battle ahead.
By contrast, Matthew Broderick is a peculiar choice. He does the youth part just fine, but there isn't much edge to him. Even when he seeks to be forceful, it comes across almost as pleading. Often, it felt like he acted entirely out of duty rather than an inner fire for abolition. He did not seem like a man who would volunteer for a suicidal charge into the guns of Fort Wagner. Sure, if he was ordered to do it, he would, but he didn't strike me as a man to volunteer. Though the lines were forceful, the delivery was wishy-washy. Of course, maybe this is how Shaw was. Broderick was Director Edward Zwick's first choice for the role.
Andre Braugher is quite good as Thomas Searles, an idealist who grew up free in Boston and finds the rigors of the army more difficult than expected. As a friend of Colonel Shaw, he feels suddenly abandoned thanks to rules against fraternization. Considering his later work in cop dramas, this role was out of character for him. Then again, this was his first role! An excellent performance and a well-realized character.
If the movie had been nothing but the banter and comradery amongst Freeman, Washington, Braugher, and Kennedy, it would have still been a great movie. The chemistry among these characters is terrific.
Though the movie gets the history generally correct, there are issues. First, the regiment was almost exclusively recruited from the free blacks living in Massachusetts, not escaped slaves. Most of them should have been more like Andre Braugher's bookish Corporal Searles rather than Denzel Washington's belligerent Private Trip. Many of the soldiers were recruited by Frederick Douglass. In fact, two of his sons joined the 54th and one of them, Lewis Henry Douglass, was the sergeant major. Therefore, John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) should have been replaced by Lewis Douglass. Though Freeman is absolutely terrific in the role, it is peculiar that a fictional character was inserted rather than the historical one. The only non-fictional member of the 54th is Colonel Shaw.
Overall, a good film that shows the 54th from the perspective of its first commanding colonel. The 54th wasn't done after the 2nd Battle of Fort Wagner but that is where this story ends.
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