Watchable film, yet don't take its message to heart.

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2006)

This is a very watchable and enjoyable film, don't get me wrong. I feel compelled to say however that you should not believe a lot of what it says. I don't know whether Mel Gibson hates the British, or more specifically the English, but you would be forgiven for thinking so. But neither this film or indeed Braveheart do anything to make one think differently.
In wars bad things do happen, but the idea of honour and decency is something British officers are very much trained to practise. Even if a 'rebel' office was to commit vile act he would not have done so under the blessing of his commander.
Now as an Englishman I look at American films and wonder why many of the 'bad guys' have British accents. Perhaps an American will explain this to me one day. There is also something very wrong with the 'patriotism' idea in this film. It demonises one side (i.e. the British) and shouts the praise of the 'Americans'. Given the terrible acts carried out by the United states since such as the massacre of the native American Indians and the constant wars to expand its own borders this movie should have been more evenhanded. Especially since the old imperial system so vilified by Americans resembles very much what America is today.
It is important to say that I don't hate America and i don't go to rallies in which American flags are burnt, indeed I look to America as a source of friendship, yet why does the American film industry continue to make overly biased and plainly historically inaccurate films? Oh and as a matter of my own national pride, the wars of independence were won entirely because of the aid granted to the colonists by France!