In 1776 South Carolina widower and legendary war hero Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) finds himself thrust into the midst of the American Revolutionary War as he helplessly watches his family torn apart by the savage forces of the British Redcoats. Unable to remain silent he recruits a band of reluctant volunteers including his idealistic patriot son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) to take up arms against the British. Fighting to protect his family’s freedom and his country’s independence Martin discovers the pain of betrayal the redemption of revenge and the passion of love.Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 043396167186 Manufacturer No: 16718

Aimed directly at a mainstream audience, The Patriot qualifies as respectable entertainment, but anyone expecting a definitive drama about the American Revolution should look elsewhere. Rising above the blatant crowd pleasing of Stargate, Independence Day, and Godzilla, director Roland Emmerich crafts a marvelous re-creation of South Carolina in the late 1770s (aided immeasurably by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel), and Robert Rodat’s screenplay offers the same balance of epic scale and emotional urgency that elevated his earlier script for Saving Private Ryan. Unfortunately, Emmerich embraces clichés and hackneyed melodrama that a more gifted director would have avoided. Instead of attempting a truly great film about the most pivotal years of American history, Emmerich settles for a standard revenge plot with the Revolutionary War as an incidental backdrop.

On those terms, the film is engrossing and sufficiently intelligent, especially when militia leader Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) cagily negotiates with British General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) in one of the most rewarding scenes. For the most part, the story concerns Martin’s anguished quest for revenge against ruthless redcoat Colonel Tavington (played with snide relish by Jason Isaacs), and the rise to manhood of Martin’s eldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), whose battlefield honor exceeds even that of his brutally volatile father. At its best, The Patriot conveys the horror of war among innocent civilians, and the epic battle scenes, while by no means masterful, are graphically intense and impressive. And although Ledger’s love interest (Lisa Brenner) is too bland to register much emotion, the focus on family (which frequently relegates the war to background history) provides a suitable vehicle for Gibson, who matches his achievement in Braveheart with an effectively brooding performance. –Jeff Shannon

“The Patriot” does a masterful job of re-creating the horrors of war through the narrative of a South Carolina farm family swept up in the brutal backcountry warfare of 1780-1781. As a college freshman and history lover, I watched this film because I had received good recommendations for it from like-minded friends.

First, let me agree with everyone else who says that the film is not historically accurate. No Loyalist militia are depicted, giving the inaccurate appearance that the backcountry war was merely American militia versus British regulars; I have no idea what the final battle is supposed to be, because it’s not Cowpens or Guilford Courthouse; and as another reviewer wrote, as far as I know, no French were present with the Americans during the southern campaigns, except for Savannah and Yorktown.

However, I disagree with those who dismiss the film because of its historical inaccuracy. Viewers of this movie should EXPECT some historical inaccuracies – after all, this is Hollywood, right? Even the “uneducated masses” should be aware of the fact that not everything in this historical drama, just like in any historical drama, is unquestionable textbook material.

I gave this movie 4 stars because of its emotional pull into the dark days of the Revolutionary War. I believe the best way to teach history is through fiction (through books and movies), because it helps readers to see that history was a real event involving real people who experienced real tragedies and triumphs of life (just like we do now. Nobody who watches this movie should walk away unappreciative of the blood and tears that were spilled in the effort to create this nation. This especially applies to the South Carolina backcountry, where neighbors fought invaders and each other in a life-and-death struggle their own backyards. I normally don’t watch violent movies, so the bloody scenes in this movie were unnerving (e.g., an American soldier getting his head blown off by a cannonball – a bloody Benjamin Martin tomahawking an unseen British soldier to death) – but it definitely reinforced General William Tecumseh Sherman’s message: “There’s many a boy here today who thinks that war is glory, but boys, it is all hell.” (No scene in the movie shows or lingers on an excessive amount of gore.) Reading from history textbooks can give us a sanitized and romanticized version of war; personally, I enjoy PBS’s “Liberty Kids” series designed to pull middle school students into the Revolutionary War era. The downside of “Liberty’s Kids” is that it romanticizes a violent and heart-rending period; movies like “The Patriot” help to counter-balance that impression with a much more realistic representation of the war.

I am African-American, so another negative aspect of the movie that I disliked was the watered-down representation of slavery presented in the movie.

Overall, however, I would recommend this film to emotionally mature viewers who want to get a glimpse of what life during the Revolutionary War was truly like. Just be sure to check a textbook or visit a national park to find out the true story after watching the film.

Where to buy cheap prices? -The Patriot (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray] $11.99



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