A beautiful, tragic, sad, yet funny tale!

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2017)

You would have to look very hard to find a more complete movie than this one!
1. It's romantic - and I am not only referring to the love between William and Murron. (And later the short romance between him and the princess.) I'm also referring to the romantic aspect of being passionate about something and fighting for that passion, even when you've already lost everything and have little to no chance of winning! This movie has that and I find that aspect more romantic than anything else on screen! I know that this story is not a correct adaptation of what truly happened (the real story is very different in fact), but it is a very beautiful version of it!
2. It's funny! Despite every horrible thing happening it still finds time to crack some jokes every now and then and it doesn't do it inappropriately. The comedic touches are perfectly fitting and some lines are very quotable!
3. It's about love, family, equality, but most of all friendship! The chemistry between the characters is great! You believe they share a history! You believe their pain and their stories. You feel for them and want them to reach their goals! They make fun of each other and you can see the dynamic between William and his friends and understand why they are friends to begin with. Every character makes sense and there are no caricatures!
4. Every scene is relevant to the story! The story doesn't drag out in order to fill empty spaces with unnecessary scenes or dialogues. As a fan of "A song of ice and fire" and now also the TV-series adaptation - I think that "Braveheart" is the closest thing you can get (in a currently existing movie) to the feeling you get from watching GOT, so if you're a GOT fan like me - you'll like this movie!
5. It's tragic! Some people don't like tragedy in their movies - but a tragic story is an emotional one, and to me emotions are crucial when it comes to make me care about a movie as much as I do about this one. It makes me cry, it makes me laugh, it makes feel anger and disgust all at the same time!
6. The acting is great! The dialogue's are good, the characters are realistic! Even the English king - who I despise has real human weaknesses, which makes him a very believable character despite his person!
7. It's action-filled! And the fight-scenes are well done and don't look at all tacky as they so often do in so many other movies! I don't like "modern" war movies to be honest (they're too current and chaotic for my taste), but I love medieval battles, and I've seen enough of them to know what I'm talking about!
8. The landscape! And the costumes! And the structures! And the overall beauty of the scenery! It's perfect! I developed a sense of affection for the Scottish culture thanks to this movie!
9. It's history! (Although not entirely true.) It teaches us a little bit about what happened and how life used to be around 700 years ago. It's not based on fantasy (although I love fantasy) - it's based on reality! (And I want to emphasize the word "based" I because I want to make sure that anyone who reads this knows that I realize that the real William Wallace was far different from his portrayal in this movie. But the essential parts are still true) We owe it to ourselves to remind us of that history!
10. It's medieval! It has got swords, "knights" and kings!!! It has got strategy, intrigue, boldness and wit! It even addresses the struggles of being a homosexual in a society that doesn't accept it!
So there you got it! It's an action, war, romance, drama, medieval, tragic, comedy and historic movie about love, passion, friends, family, social injustice and the struggle for freedom and equality! I can't recommend it enough!