Hollywood extreme

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2001)

This is such an obvious Hollywood mainstream film. In my case, that basically means I can't connect with neither the film nor its characters. As an example: there is a scene in the film where the entire population of a small town is burnt alive within a church. This should bother me, but the sequence stirs no emotions.
Furthermore, the film is so sickly pro-American (in recent years surpassed only by "Saving Private Ryan): the film makes it quite clear that all Europeans are mean villains, while Americans are courageous heroes. Then there is the case of Mel Gibson's character and his "free workers". I've read that this was something Mel Gibson pushed through, and that the original script intended Gibson's character to hold slaves. I agree with director Spike Lee in his criticism that this is an obvious false representation of history. Furthermore, the film could have made a point out of Gibson's character (and his fellow Americans) fighting for his freedom, but not seeing the African-Americans desire for freedom, if they had chosen to keep the original aspects of slavery in the film.