Glory [UMD for PSP]

An Award Winning Civil War movie now for the PSP (1 of 1 Found this Helpful)   August 30, 2008
It would be impossible for me to claim I do not enjoy Edward Zwick's Glory. After all, I now have it in three formats, VHS (which I got for Christmas back in the early '90s), 2 disc DVD (which I got around 2003 for Christmas as much to have it on DVD as to get all the bonus features), and now on UMD (which I just purchased to play in my PSP when on the go). I first saw the movie back in the eighth grade and it inspired me years later as a junior in high school to include the 54th Massachusetts and the assault on Fort Wagner into a paper I did on the war. Not only that, it fueled my interest in a subject of the war that wasn't really dealt with in school, black regiments in the Civil War. With a natural lean towards the 54th. Which has lead to me to including "Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw" and Noah Andre Trudeau's "Like Men of War" to my personal library.

This review is actually on UMD version. But for those who don't know (and who haven't already guessed), Glory tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment. The first regiment of black troops authorized by the federal government. It was a unit made up of black enlisted men with white officers (and indeed most such units throughout the war were the same). Though certainly not the first such unit formed, as the movie itself explains, it was the first authorized by the federal government rather than created by an officer in the field using "contraband." Or former field slaves taken from the fields as Union forces came through. This gave the government the idea of expirementing with forming an "all black" regiment. Initially they were not be meant to be used as combat troops (in fact in the actual history there was a question of whether or not black units would run at the first sign of Confederate troops), but their commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, gets the unit finally transfered to combat duty where they prove themselves every bit as good as good as the white units. The movie culminates with the assault on Fort Wagner, which is spearheaded by the 54th. This makes the movie bitter sweet as the regiment suffered 50% casualties in the assault, including the death of Shaw, and the fort was never taken (in fact months later the Confederates merely left the fort allowing Union troops to just walk in).

Glory took home numerous award nominations and wins. This includes five Oscar nominations (winning for Best Supporting Actor (Denzel Washington), Best Cinematography, Best Sound), five Golden Globe nominations (winning for Best Supporting Actor (Denzel Washington)), and 1 Grammy nomination (and the win for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television).

Now as I said, this is more aimed at the UMD. First off, if you have the 2000 Speial Edition 2 disc DVD don't expect this will be the same thing. The only special fearture is a preview secgment. Also the subtitles are limited to English and Spanish. However, this is anamorphic widescreen, and like the widescreen presentation on the Special Edition set it's presented in 1.85:1 ratio. It's also, thankfully, the full movie so you don't have to worry about missing a scene.

But the thing that gets me is the things I noticed for the first time. Recently I suffered a blackout due to a recent storm. So knowing I had some juice in my PSP I grabbed it along with this UMD. It was the first time I watched Glory on the PSP, and being so used to watching the DVD in recent years I was actually looking to see what all might have been cut off due to the screen size. Sure it's widescreen, but I'm so used to watching widescreen on TV or portable DVD players where the screen size is a bit bigger and I see the black at the top and bottom of the screen. So I was paying things a little closer attention than normal. Now some of the things I noticed, such as the badly injured horse having to be shot after Antietm, I knew were there but had never actually noticed them as they were either in the background or were kinda concealed by other things. For me, this really makes owning the UMD a must have if you're a fan of the film.

If you've seen Glory in the theater, on VHS, or on DVD, then you will not be disappointed by the UMD version. It will make a wonderful edition to your PSP movie collection.

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