Glory Opening SceneIn spirit of this weeks reading i screened the film Glory. For those who have not seen it, the film takes place during the Civil War. It follows an aspiring officer who has assumed the role of commander of one of the first all black regiments. The 54th Massachusetts which was entirely composed of volunteer african americans. The film is an excellent portrayal of the horrors of war and racial tension.
One of the very first scenes of the film take place after the initial battle. The young officer played by Mathew Broderick is minorly wounded in battle by shrapnel and passes out. Upon awakining he his taken to the battlefield hospital. It is here i believe the film captures Whitmans most vivid accounts of the grussome amputations that took course there. The screams of the soldiers from their wounds and surgery’s were not of men but mostly boys not much older than 17. Its crazy to think that the medical attention back then often perscribed amputation for any entry wound.
In Whitman’s “Bad Wounds- The Young” he refers to some of the wounds as “ugly hurts” these wounds i assume were from the artillery explosions as he mentioned in the poem but also those with missing limbs. Whitman explains as a nurse every day he entered those tents with the most cheerful and hopefully attitude so that it may rub off on the patients. A daunting task to say the least. I bring this up because the film Glory depicts an emotionless atmosphere in the hospital. Mathew Broderick lays hardly wounded as a nurse tends to his neck. They have a one sided conversation as the man talks to him about the emancipation proclamation. He hears the mans words but looks around the hospital.
The doctors help the nurses hold the patient with one hand while the other swings the meat cleaver violently at the mans body. Before doing so and after the fact, shouts from these boys ask them politely not to take their arms and legs. This scene is truly gutrenching and a visualization of Whitman’s experiences. I have attached the first part of the movie according to youtube. Its only 10 min watch the whole thing! Listen to the narration in the begining especially, it sounds like Walt. “we fight for men and women who’s poetry is not yet written but will presently be enviable and renound as any” Following that Mathew Broderick Quotes Emerson “A deep man believes that the evil eye can whither, the heart’s blessing can heal, and that love can overcome all odds”
The last minute of the clip is the hospital scene. Let me know what you think of the clip in its entirety.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKlbAGsDR…