I’ve recently read that Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln was well received at its recent Academy screening, leading at least one Oscar expert to moving it into first place to win for Best Picture and pretty much guaranteed that Daniel Day-Lewis would win Best Actor. I’m looking forward to the film as both someone interested in history and as someone who will see just about any Spielberg film or any Day-Lewis film, but my favorite film about the Civil War is Glory. I would also put Glory in among the top movies ever made about race relations. Somehow, the only movies about race relations that have won Best Picture are In the Heat of the Night(which was a great movie), Driving Miss Daisy(not a bad movie, but lacked bite), and Crash(which I thought was trash) while this does not get a Best Picture nomination. It might have not received a Picture nomination because it came out the same year as Driving Miss Daisy and you can’t nominate two movies about race relations. Glory did win three Oscar: Supporting Actor for Denzel Washington, Cinematography, and Sound.


I know Glory has some detractors that doesn’t like that the film has a white protagonist who is the leader of the all-black regiment, but it is a war movie. War movies set in a regiment usually focus on officers as well. The film is based on his letters. Matthew Broderick can be a great actor when he is given something interesting to play. The whole cast is great. The scene around the campfire is brilliantly executed and acted.


Edward Zwick had only directed a few TV movies and one feature before Glory. He is also known for producing quality television shows, including Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once & Again as well a winning an Oscar for producing Shakespeare in Love. I have not liked the rest of the movies he has directed, until Blood Diamond in 2006 and Defiance in 2008. The movie is beautifully shot. It really deserved its Cinematography Oscar. It has some of the best shot war scenes that I’ve seen, both exciting and scary at the same time. It also has a great score, which I’ve heard used on other things as well.