Week Three: Glory

I loved this movie.

I'd never seen it before, and I hate that I've gone twenty-three years of my life without seeing it.

The identifiable leadership qualities were abundant, not just in Matthew Broderick's character, but among the entire cast.

A few instances that stuck out to me:

It was obvious that Shaw didn't want to take the position and lead the black platoon, but he stepped up and did anyway. Good leadership.

The entire platoon was threatened by death if their continued to fight, and the white leaders with them, but everyone chose to stay and fight. Good leadership.

The scene where Shaw if firing his gun behind the soldier who is learning to shoot very, very quickly, and under pressure... that, to me, was good leadership. It was effective. And obvious that Shaw wanted the men to be prepared.

I thought that having Denzel Washington's character whipped was good leadership. It sucked, because he was only after shoes, and not running away like everyone thought. But Shaw didn't know that. And he was doing what he thought was right. the white men would have been whipped for deserting, and even though it could be looked at in a negative way (Shaw having a black man whipped), I thought the fact that he went ahead and did it anyway, to create equality and to show that he treats the black man just as he treats the white man, was good leadership. A gray area, but I understood his reasoning, and I don't think it was a bad decision.

I loved the scene where Shaw stormed into the man's office demanding shoes for his men. I thought that was a great show of leadership. A good leader, I think, takes care of his followers no matter what. Shaw demonstrated this, and my heart warmed to him.

When the men started a riot, saying that they would not accept the pay cut, Shaw denounced his own pay, staying that if the men weren't getting paid, neither was he. Good leadership.

Morgan Freeman's character displayed several instances of good leadership, himself. The most notable one, to me, was when he broke up a fight between the white and black soldiers, and actually defended the white man who was being really horrible to Denzel Washington's character. The white man was almost in serious trouble, but Morgan Freeman assured Shaw that it was nothing and that everything was okay. Not smiting your enemies when you have the perfect opportunity, I think, is good, good leadership.

I just thought this movie was phenomenal.