A Soldiers Story Essay Samples

The movie set in 1944 Louisiana takes place around the Second World War in the midst of the turmoil of black and white officers. The theme that runs parallel to the color of the skin of army men is how even the black wouldn’t support each other just to get thing going as they were and not cause much commotion for change. A Captain Davenport arrives in the midst of the mayhem of the murder of sergeant Waters and is assigned to an inquiry and report submission by the centre.
The numerable witness interviews that he conducts through which flashbacks of the relations between Majors, Corporals, Privates and Sergeant Waters is shown in his investigation. To the common man he seemed like a right, disciplined officer who does not appreciate people taking their duty lightly. It is only shown later that he unjustly and falsely accuses a black soldier CJ Memphis causing him to commit suicide. It is only in the end that the movie reveals itself to be revenge saga where Waters is murdered by a friend of CJ, Private Peterson to avenge his wrongful imprisonment.
Though on the face of it all it seems the hurt and anguish of being betrayed by one of your skin caused him to commit this crime, it invariably ends up being a hurtful finding for Captain Davenport who has to now implicate one of his own brethren.
Time again stories of revenge have capitulated the eyes of the audience. It is a theme that many who have gone through wrongful pain empathize with knowing very well the hands of the justice wouldn’t be on their side. Add to it the combination of being a Black American in the army, the story adds on many hues and levels to each man’s character wherein the audience is sure that it has to be a white man who has committed such a heinous crime in 1944.
Sergeant Waters slimy, irresponsible behavior also reeks of a power hungry person using an innocent to up his status as the wronged one, doesn’t matter that this other person is young, vivacious and on the cusp of a successful career. This theme of bumping someone else of your path to success rings true even in today’s’ cut throat competitive world.
In the end we can empathize with the hurt and tears of Captain Davenport’s findings that two people who should have waited for justice to take its own course thought it better to take law into their hands and end up destroying three lives. No one’s a winner of this sad Soldier’s Story.