good patriotic, historical fiction

Rating: Null/10 (10 July 2000)

For all of those critics who bash this movie for its historical inaccuracies, you have to understand that this movie never proclaimed to be a factual documentary. It is simply BASED on events that transpired and the lives of a number of important figures during the Revolutionary War. With this view in mind, I thought the Patriot worked very well, stirring up some much needed patriotic feeling into our cynical society of today.

As far as the inaccuracies, I actually thought there were a lot more inaccuracies in Braveheart, a wonderful film with a story that bears little resemblance to the actual story of William Wallace. For those who doubt all of the brutal tactics used by the British, the real-life British Officer Banastre Tarleton was known to be almost every bit as evil as the Tavington character in the movie. With that said, I don't know of any event where he burned a church full of people, that might have been a little much. However, he did execute captured colonists and civilians, and was known as being astonishingly ruthless. In real-life, Lord Cornwallis actually approved of Tarleton's tactics (the movie gave him a more positive outlook), and was so incensed after he was defeated at the Battle of Cowpens, that he chased Nathaniel Greene's army all across the Carolinas. The result was that he eventually tired his army out and allowed Greene to make a few stands that sent Cornwallis to Yorktown.
Others have complained that the movie did not show any of the brutality of the Americans. It thought the shot of Mel Gibson repeatedly bashing the British soldier with blood all over his face and clothes, as well as the instance where the militia continued to kill British soldiers after they shouted for surrender, managed to give some of the American brutality.

With that said, I did have a few problems with the movie. There were a few scenes of laughable cheesiness, such as Heath Ledger's girlfriend standing up in church to give her speech about independence, and the mano-a-mano fight between Tavington and Martin. I would also have liked to see more of an exploration of the internal struggle between loyalists and patriots. Also, the movie made it sound as if the slavery problem was not such a big deal-something must have happened then between the Revolution and the Civil War! Overall, however, a well-done, beautiful (the sets and costumes seemed very authentic), & inspiring movie. *** (out of four stars)
Interesting note: Mel Gibson, was not cast as `The Swampfox' Frances Marion (the character that Benjamin Martin was clearly based on ), because it was found that Marion spent his free-time hunting Indians!