Inspirational and Dramatic

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2016)

The film Braveheart shows the epic tale of a hero fueled by vengeance and love, that stands for what he believes in, no matter the enemy. From a village rebellion to a full-scale war against the English, Mel Gibson's William Wallace captivates viewers to follow his journey for Scotland and inspires both the characters and the viewers outside of the film to fight for what they believe in. Watching this movie certainly did inspire me and the work which was done in both acting and capturing the emotion added up to a powerful story. Although many elements of the setting were uncontrollable and hard to manage, John Toll personally did a very good job at turning factors such as rain and natural lighting, into aspects that give the film more life. The overall tone of the movie was that of a burdensome nature. The gray sky and the rain did a really good job at weighing down and making the poor villages seem like they were even more disadvantaged. Starting from the beginning, you see this area that has clear signs of high precipitation. The movie itself takes of slowly, maybe too slowly for my taste, but soon after the story begins to move forward at a comfortable pace. John Toll portrayed this journey that William Wallace had with a very intense outlook. His high key lighting worked to enhance the details on the characters, the mud, the scratches, blood crusts, and cuts which they have. He chose to continue to shoot the film during unfavorable weather and whenever anything that would have been a setback to the camera presented itself, he simply would find ways to incorporate them into the movie and add more to the dramatic look. Although ambitions of John Toll, the issue with shooting everything in natural weather means that there were continuity issues regarding aspects like the rain and the lighting which had to be adjusted to it. Shooting in the rain limits the use of lights but the team did continue to try and run cables through the mud to help with the shots. Personally I believe that this is an inconvenience but it does go to show how invested John Toll was in having the shots be how he envisioned them. Other issues were minimal, although towards the end of the movie scenes like the battle scenes were never perfectly in focus due to the fact that characters were moving about everywhere in a non determined way. It is not that easy to notice but when looking through a critical lens, it is something that should have been adjusted. Overall the movie was great, I really did enjoy it. I felt inspired and passionate after having watched it. The mood and the characters were portrayed to perfection thanks to John Toll's good work as the cinematographer. I recommend watching it if you have not already because it truly does speak to everyone.