But attempting to live apart from others causes the destruction of his old family. While based loosely on the story of the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, The Patriot is really a story of all the wars Americans or anyone else have ever fought. It is thus both an anti-war movie and a movie that justifies war. It is about any warrior who knows the loss of loved ones, whether in the battles of the Revolution or throughout the ages of wars in Serbia. The Civil War, World War II, and Vietnam are all conflated in this movie about America s revolutionary and founding era hence the historical anachronisms.
Every war is ugly, every war gives birth to new hopes, new worlds.
Both sides struggle with that question but perpetrate atrocities against noncombatants or prisoners. Martin evolves to a mature American by applying his reason and refining his passions. Thus, guns in the hands of his young boys make perfect sense not a sign of Columbine-era terrorism especially when they shoot with such unerring accuracy. In the end, reason and passion are rewarded by God s grace. Even the ruins of churches offer reward.