Why We Go to the Movies...(May contain Spoiler Material)

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2000)

Having read many of the comments before mine (face it...you either loved it or you hated it), and having seen "The Patriot" recently, I feel compelled to state that this is a movie. Not a documentary. Historical accuracy? Save it for American History 101. I personally went to this movie to be entertained, not to re-hash my American History class.

Was it based on historical figures? Of course. Gibson's Benjamin Martin bears a striking resemblance to Francis Marion, the famed "Swamp Fox" of South Carolina, whose hit-and-run tactics confounded the British regulars. Isaacs' Colonel Tavington is an obvious caricature (note the word "caricature") of Banastre Tarleton, commander of the Green Dragoons, who, contrary to previous comments, did order the massacre of Continental troops who had surrendered after a battle in South Carolina. I don't remember a lot of my Revolutionary War history, but I do remember that part quite clearly.
Does this, then, mean that all British were Nazi-esque murderers? Of course not. Tarleton's behavior was considered to be quite aberrant, a fact the movie does attempt to convey in Cornwallis' distaste for Tavington's ungentlemanly brutality. And I don't believe that the Americans were portrayed as "straight-laced," as some have expressed. In the movie, most of Martin's irregulars are mercenaries and thieves, and he has to wind up issuing a standing order not to kill wounded and prisoners. The slavery issue. Some felt that (POSSIBLE SPOILER MATERIAL) the reconciliation between the bigot and the freed slave was too "cheesy" and "clean-cut." Others took issue with the fact that Martin kept no slaves. The sad fact of the matter is that believing that all Southern landowners (and, in fact, all Southerners) were howling racist bigots is a form of ignorance on the magnitude of howling racist bigotry.
Please, folks, go into this movie with an open mind and desire to be entertained. In no way should this movie attempt to serve as a study guide for your American History final exam. For a solid performance from Gibson and co., a good bit of work from the director and the writers, and an all-around entertaining glimpse at what life MIGHT HAVE BEEN like during the Revolutionary War, I give "The Patriot" 8 out of 10.