A Masterpiece That Pulls No Punches

Rating: 10/10 (13 October 2016)

As a proud Scotsman I can easily say that Mel Gibsons Braveheart is without a doubt one of my all time favourite movies and one of my favourite best picture winners. By far the most common compliant I see about this movie is the fact that it isn't very historically accurate, well the film is not a history lecture you can only judge the movie itself and I support any changes they made to this movie from real events as it makes for an extremely compelling story. The story of Braveheart is simple William Wallace (played perfectly by Mel Gibson) leading a rebellion with his fellow Scotsman against England and its King Edward I. It's a story that's impossible not to get behind because it's all about freedom and from fighting for equality. The violence in this movie is bloody and gory but not in an unnecessary way it serves a purpose of truly showing the way in which the battles, rape and torture scenes took place. Mel Gibson took home the Oscar for Best Director for this film and it's very well deserved he knows just how to film the action scenes just right to put the viewer right into their situation, he succeeds just as well in front of the camera as well because I believe that to this day this remains his best performance he knows exactly how to portray Wallace's internal turmoil, unwanted fame, inspiration attitudes and overconfidence. This movie does not paint Wallace as a perfect man there are scenes where he recklessly puts himself and others in danger to settle his personal vendettas and anger and in that regard this movie is very accurate to real life. The late Patrick McGoohan is excellent here as King Edward he strikes just the right balance between imposing menace and brilliant strategist and is always a pleasure to see him on screen. Peter Hanly is also fantastic as Prince Edward because while he does and excellent job at being a hateful character it's really not as simple as that he's got a character character arc to him that shows him feeling unimportant and struggling to cope with failures and living up to his fathers legacy. The scene of Wallaces execution is one of my all time favourite scenes in a movie it is just such a heartbreaking and inspirational scene that never stops giving me chills. Braveheart could have easily be a simple war film but it's got excellent characters with excellent arcs and motivations and succeeds just as well when it comes to the battle sequences delivering some of the best I've ever seen. I will fight anyone that calls this Masterpiece underrated: A+-100%