Felt manipulated

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2000)

This is a good movie, but the direction was contrived and the audience I felt was unabashadely manipulated . The sequence for instance where the youngest daughter finally speaks to her father ( Mel Gibson ) is excessively corny and predictable. Also the villain is so grotesquely evil , it is impossible to believe . No historian on earth would give an ounce of credit to this portrayal of a British Army officer . Now , there were instances of Hessian atrocities during this war ( these were German mercenaries hired by the British ) but the conduct of the British in this film is totally out of context . It may sound like I didn't like the film but I did , I just wish Mel Gibson didn't have to soft soap audiences with his own distortions of history . He is a great presence on film and his sometimes awful dialogue (not just in this movie) is not always his fault . I don't blame the British public from being angered over the callous treatment of an army that was not the great superior force it was portrayed to be. Thanks......