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Originally Posted by albionmoonlight
I, too, have never seen this movie . . . :-(
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1. Denzel’s first Oscar and his breakout moment.
2. Also stars Morgan Freeman.
3. Tried hard—especially for the 80s and given the nature of the true story—to avoid the white savior narrative. (I mean, the true story is "wealthy white kid makes unpopular decision to arm and lead black soldiers in the Civil War, risking his life to do so, fighting racism within his own ranks to make sure they get to fight," and the movie managed to make the four main-character enlisted black soldiers as relatable/likeable/heroic as their Colonel.)
4. Probably because the movie came out when they were in high school/college and was told from a Union perspective and that of the ex-slaves, it was the movie that caused a number of my deep Southern white friends – including, though I hadn’t met her yet, my wife - to first question all they’d been taught up to then about slavery, the Civil War, etc. I mean, Gone With The Wind was the defining movie of the Civil War for them up to that point.
I suspect you’d really like it.