Patriot vs. Braveheart

Proud and defining achievements in our military history have been celebrated and even romanticized in their importance.   When we think of the Revolutionary War, we think of our founding fathers, orators and statesman with convictions and ideals, who banded together on principles to defy tyranny.   We seldom think of the great sacrifice and bloodshed from common men and families that paid the price for independence. Several men and their families were captured, tortured or killed as traitors.   Many lost their lives or sons' lives in fighting the war.   The Patriot is a well acted and gripping revisitation of the Revolutionary War with painfully realistic, bloody battle reenactments that compromise dramatic integrity.   It has captured the brutal realism of America's greatest war.
Captain Benjamin Martin, played by Mel Gibson, eloquently opposes the rhetoric and bravado of the call to arms because it is not a glorious game but hell to be avoided.   He has long feared that his sins would return to visit him and that cost is more than he can bear.   A widower with seven children, Martin still lives with the ghost of the atrocities he committed as a hero of the French and Indian War.
As a veteran of these frontier wars, Martin has put his weapons down and renounced fighting forever to raise his family in peace.   However, times are becoming tough and the King of Britain has a firm grip on the American colonies, while they want their independence.   Martin refuses to fight after the massacres he has seen in the past.   However, he is unable to stop his son Gabriel, played by Heath Ledger, from enlisting in the army.   As he predicted, this war is waged close to home and among the townspeople.   Soon Martin and his family can see the battle from their home.   While helping the wounded soldiers, one of which is his son, he suddenly becomes the target of the British Army.   Treated as a traitor, Martin has to watch as one of his sons is killed by a brutal British Officer, played by... [continues]

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