Buffalo Soldiers (DVD)
APPROX. 94 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1997 - MPA RATING: G
" ...says nothing that is particularly new about the history of race relations, but it presents its message in an elevating way. Meanwhile, there's the adventure to consider.
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When the action starts, it's plenty brutal and bloody, especially by television standards. The battles are intense, and the wounds are gory enough to make one flinch and look away. The movie pulls no punches in depicting war in the harshest and most convincing manner.
Yet it is the character study of Sgt. Wyatt that stands out among the political messages and the carnage. Glover's interpretation of Wyatt is at once sublime and courageous, making him a character who is continually questioned by whites, Native Americans, and fellow African Americans alike about his motives for serving his country with such devotion, given the ill treatment his country has given him. Indeed, it's a question the movie implies he must have asked himself on more than one occasion. Glover is his usual sincere, determined self in the role.
The movie has no real answers beyond the obvious ones for the questions regarding Wyatt's and the buffalo soldiers' reasons for serving their country with such distinction; but it does present the dilemmas of the African Americans and the Native Americans with as much depth as a relatively brief television movie can muster. I thought the film was somewhat superficial, but there's no denying the underlying importance of the sentiment.
"Buffalo Soldiers" contains all the ingredients we've become accustomed to in a television melodrama, with maybe too many pregnant pauses, too many stretches of mournful music, too many lingering long shots of the desert and hills, too many slow, tedious transitions, and too many instances of inspirational music and ceremonial posturing. Still, the movie manages to catch the imagination, occasionally excite the blood, and make one more aware of the inequalities of the world. Although it takes sides, to be sure, it's what most movies of this kind do.
"Buffalo Soldiers" says nothing that is particularly new about the history of race relations, but it presents its message in an elevating way. Meanwhile, there's the adventure to consider.
Video:
The movie's 1.33:1, fullscreen dimensions are fine for what they are, intended for standard television broadcast. The picture is slightly blurred, smeared in a way that we have come to expect of ordinary broadcast video. On the plus side, one notices little or no transfer grain and only a touch of inherent print grain. On the minus side, the colors are a bit muted, and there is minor pixel flutter.
Audio:
The sound is rendered via Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Stereo. It is limited in most respects, like its frequency range, stereo spread, and surround-channel information. However, it carries a strong dynamic impact and conveys a reasonably natural midrange, so maybe it all balances out.
Extras:
This is a bare-bones release from WB, with English as the only spoken language; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; twenty scene selections; and no chapter insert.
Parting Thoughts:
Again according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "The buffalo soldiers were noted for their courage and discipline. Drunkenness, an especially widespread problem in the army, was rare among them; in a period when nearly a third of white army enlistees deserted, the black soldiers had the U.S. Army's lowest desertion and court-martial rates. In nearly thirty years of frontier service, buffalo soldiers took part in almost 200 major and minor engagements. From 1870 to 1890, fourteen buffalo soldiers were awarded medals of honor, the army's highest award for bravery."
In honor of Black History Month, Warner Bros. have released four TNT Original Movies celebrating and elucidating black history: "Passing Glory," "Freedom Song," "Heat Wave," and "Buffalo Soldiers." Although made for television, each of them is an uplifting and enlightening motion picture, with "Buffalo Soldiers" perhaps the most entertaining of the lot. As I've said, the movie doesn't tell the full story of the actual buffalo soldiers and most likely glosses over any inadequacies of the real-life troopers, but it nevertheless makes a strong point in the telling and proves itself a cut above the usual TV fare one encounters on any given night.
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