A Nutshell Review: The Patriot (2000)

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2005)

Brought to screen by the creative team behind Godzilla, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin bring on board 2 actors of Australian descent (Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger) to tell you a tale of the American Revolutionary War, set in the year 1796, where the British are whipping the Continental soldiers real bad. It doesn't dwell too much on the big picture, but focuses on a smaller details which might stir your interest to read up more on that part of history.
Mel Gibson plays Benjamin Martin, a retired soldier, now farmer, who has a war reputation of being a brutal, efficient man of war. He tends to his land and brings up seven children, of whom the eldest, Gabriel Martin (Heath Ledger), goes against his father's wish and enlists in the Continental army to pursue his ideal of freedom and just cause.
As Benjamin warned, this war will be fought not on some faraway place, but at their doorsteps. And true enough, he finds British soldiers on his land, who finds fault with him, murders one of his sons in cold blood, and taking away an injured Gabriel. Enraged, Benjamin massacres an entire platoon of soldiers, and earns himself the nickname "The Ghost", in one of the more intense battle scenes in this movie. It's satisfying to watch how one man (and his two other children) plan an ambush and take on their enemies, while showing no mercy in their quest for revenge.
Drawn reluctantly into the war by his personal unfortunate episode, Benjamin volunteers for service and links up with Gabriel to recruit a band of militia Patriots to take on the well organized British soldiers, using guerrilla tactics to ambush and contain the British in the south, stalling their plans to move up North to crush Washington's troops.
It's interesting to note that the British general Lord Charles Cornwallis (played by Tom Wilkinson) was portrayed as a gentleman who fights fairly in his own opinion, and prides himself in doing so. But when the desperation for success creeps in, he sanctions guerrilla tactics against the civilian townfolk in order to get to the Patriots (sounds like modern day terrorism?). You can't help but laugh at his naivety when being conned by Benjamin in one prisoner exchange scene.
As with most war movies after Saving Private Ryan, blood and gore get a fair bit of air time, and back in the 18th century, war is fought almost face to face. There is the musket, which fires only one shot, then requires a reload, and a long bayonet affixed at the tip for that bayonet fighting in close quarters. But what really is terrifying is the artillery's predecessor - the cannon. Many scenes in this movie show how a simple cannonball can decapitate human limbs, and even rip a human head off the torso. Pretty gruesome stuff.
Running close to three hours long, this movie doesn't bore you with its many subplots about family and relationships, but rather, these elements enhance and bring forth the horrors of war, that everyone out there is a brother, father, son, and highlights that not every war is meant to be for a honourable cause. It could be as simple as fighting for, and with, the person beside you.