Gibson Rewrites History Part II

Rating: 5/10 (27 September 2002)

I find it hard to focus on the cinematic qualities of the film, so we'll dispense with them first - smooth direction, nice pacing, quality cinematography and some good performances, particularly by Tom Wilkinson as Cornwallis.
My main issue with this film are the substantial historical inaccuracies. I am British, but I'm not trying to recreate the Empire - my point is that one would think the American Revolution was a dramatic enough backdrop without having to adjust the facts to suit a predictable enough plot (if you could pick lottery numbers as efficiently as you could pick the fates of the characters in this film, we'd all be rich).
Freedom is worth fighting for even without fighting against the kind of brutality attached to the British Army here. The context in which the War was fought are virtually ignored - the token Frenchman is almost a joke and no mention is made of the War the British were fighting in Europe at the time.
Disappointing.
5/10