It's the time during the Civil War. As a non-war expert, the audience is given dates of certain events, but since I don't know the specific start or end dates, I wasn't sure at what point in the war these events were happening and if they were building towards a large battle. So plot aside, racism is at the front and center. The audience is constantly reminded through the dialogue and actions of the cast. Matthew Broderick's character of Colonel Shaw appears to have no racist bone in his body, but his flaw is that he's pretty clueless on how to run his own command so he has to rely on a lot of help. Unfortunately the help is also racist, on both sides of the coin.
The orchestral score does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to emotion. Early in the movie when Col. Shaw informs those under his command that General Lee has decreed that any black person fighting for the North will be executed and when the fighting is over those black people must also return to a life of slavery. Shaw expects his entire company to quit. The next morning when he asks his second in command, Mayor Forbes (Cary Elwes) how many soldiers are left, the music swells as Shaw turns a corner to see that no one quit and everyone stayed. The music swells again when the soldiers get new shoes and uniforms and when they finally get their first real assignment.
Outside of that, the biggest stars of this movie were Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington (who I later learned received a Best Supporting Academy Award for his role). Denzel doesn't chew the scenery as he would in later movies, but you can see the seeds of it start here. He does an excellent job of crying on command and you truly care about what happens to him, Morgan Freeman's characters, and the other troops. Speaking of the other troops, Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) also does an excellent job in his role.
Overall, the plot isn't important, and the main message is that racism is bad (obviously). The writers and director must have felt that the American people need that reminder, whether it comes in the form of this movie in the 1990s, or we get a more recent reminder with the films honored during the 2018 Academy Awards.
