Observing that this practice of marching into enemy fire is less than efficient, the wily Ben advocates that he and the guys form a militia, the very kind that the Second Amendment supports, comprised of farmers and other such artful deceivers, who will be under no compunctions to be so polite professional military counterparts. But the method is somewhat lost amidst the movie's obvious approbation of Ben's vindictive violence. These personal stakes extend to all the colonists, of course. Besides, when Occam serves a full year, he's legally free, though this year proves to be so encouraging that when his tour is over, he re-ups. It's ironic because the movie is so clearly invested in the notion of speaking freely, or more precisely, speaking openly as individuals and communities.
Free speech is the bottom line for democratic representation.
And you know that The Patriot makes prominent, if passing, mention of that taxation without representation business that so notoriously ignites the whole shebang. It's also ironic that this freedom translates into a capacity for ongoing revisions and interminglings of history and myth. On the one hand, more exciting myths mean bigger box office, and Gibson knows a thing or two about this process. Just as history is written by winners, so hypocrisy is a privilege reserved for winners. And after watching this movie, you might make the same argument about patriotism.