A great film, though certainly not perfect (possible minor spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (16 July 2000)

As an American living in England, I regret the offensive historical "liberties" taken in the film for the "fire" scene in The Patriot. It simply wasn't necessary to demonstrate that the British were, in fact, at the time, "the bad guys".
The Brits I know and work with are wonderful people. But at that time, there were certainly powerful reasons why Americans declared independence, and that makes for a fascinating premise for this movie.
Cinematically, this is a beautiful film, and does a masterful job of winding several plotlines into an epic. While it can't possibly tell the story of the whole revolution, that's not the point. It's simply one story based on the feeling and general period of the Revolutionary War. It does not glamorize war, nor try to justify it. In fact, that's the main challenge of the plot. I enjoyed the character development, I enjoyed the actors' performances, and I loved the mis-en-scene.
If you choose to compare the two, I felt it was, in fact, better than Braveheart, which I found to be even more contrived and trite at times.
The film was certainly not perfect. I agree with one previous reviewer: with some minor editing (namely taking out a few lines), the substitution of the fire scene with something else less fictional, and some better SGI work (sea scenes were pretty lame), the film could have been perfect.
However, if you are an American, I urge you to see this film and to study your proud, colorful history.
If you are British, then I regret the partially unfair portrayal. But see the film anyways. As I walked out of the theatre here, most of the Brits I heard discussing the film seemed to have been thoroughly moved by it. Though we have been the closest of allies for at least 100 years now, at several times, we were not, and there were some very good reasons why.