Starring Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, Tom Wilkinson, Joely Richardson, Chris Cooper, Lisa
Brenner, Tcheky Karyo, Rene Auberjonois. Directed by Roland Emerich.
Farmer Benjamin Martin (Gibson) owns a peaceful, prosperous farm near Greensboro, South Carolina in 1776.
A former soldier of some renown, he has put away his muskats and tomahawk and doesn't want to bring them
out again. The formerly British 13 colonies have just declared independence. The members of the South Carolina
state legislature have been called to vote on whether to send money and support for the war against Britain.
Support for the war is easily passed although not supported by Benjamin His oldest son Gabriel (Ledger)
ignores his father and signs up for the army under Benjamin's old friend Colonel Burwell (Cooper).
Soon the war spreads south and lands on the Martins' doorstep. Gabriel is injured and takes refuge at the
house, but Colonel William Tavington arrives, murders the wounded American soldiers and one of Benjamin's
sons, burns down the Martin's home and takes Gabriel away to be hanged. Dragged into the war, Benjamin
gets his son back, and enlists into the American army. He and Gabriel form a militia combining Benjamin's
scruffy brawlers with Gabriel's more civilized farmers. Together they play havoc with British convoys and mess
up Lord British General Cornwallis' (Wilkinson) plans for a quick victory in the south, and stick together through
loss of comrades and family members.
From the director of such derivative schlock as Stargate and Independence Day, I was expecting
a manipulative, flag-waving piece of crap just in time to pack 'em in for the 4th of July. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Patriot is a well-written, well-directed epic that, while clocking in at over 2 1/2 hours, moves smartly
to its final conclusion with plenty of action, drama and even romance. There is considerable violence and gore
- bullets fly, blood spurts, cannonballs take heads and limbs clean off - but the camera never lingers on any
one violent moment, and moves on to the next. With one exception. After one of Martin's children is mercilessly
killed by Colonel Tavington and his oldest is taken to be hanged, Benjamin and two younger sons rush to ambush
the Brits, and Benjamin shoots, slashes and hacks every redcoat he can get his hands on with visceral rage,
ending up drenched in blood. Nobody but Mel Gibson could this effectively illustrate uncontrolled anger and
revenge. There is considerable sentiment in various parts of the film, but most of the time it is used sparingly,
and some of these emotional moments are among the most powerful.
The film adopts an almost modern family values slant. Benjamin, in voting against joining the war against
Britain, cites that he is in favour of independence, but refuses to sanction the loss of innocent life, or make
his family fatherless, saying "I have a family. I can't afford to have principles." He tells his son "someday
when you have a family, you'll understand." In other words, if you don't have a family, you just can't get it.
Benjamin also makes the great line that he has no great optimism towards legislatures, suggesting it is no
better to replace "one tyrant 3000 miles away with 3000 tyrants one mile away."
Another theme that runs throughout the film is that of conducting war with honour. Colonel Tavington kills
colonists and prisoners of war with reckless abandon, excusing his behaviour as simply dealing with traitors,
and saying "honour is in the end, not in the means of obtaining it". But General Cornwallis is appalled at
his behaviour, believing war should be conducted as gentlemen, reminding Tavington that the colonists are
still British subject who they will wish to conduct commerce with after the war. Cornwallis is also appalled
at Martin's strategy in killing the officers first in any attack, leaving the troops confused and directionless.
In Cornwallis' mind, it is not what gentlemen do in conducting war. There is also a moment of truth in the
militia, where Benjamin, Villeneuve (Karyo) and others could care less when British soldiers wish to surrender,
hacking them down as they spoke, versus Gabriel and some farmers insisting the war must be carried out
with honour and rules of war must be respected even when the British did always return the favour. Benjamin
also has a decidely modern view on the treatment of black people. All of them who work his farm are free,
and he insists a black slave who joins the militia makes his own mark to show consent, and not just that
of his master. That slave saves a wounded man who earlier had made fun of his lack of reading skills, and
they eventually become bosom buddies in battle. The slave talks about a new world dawning with the newly
formed country. As if this is likely, from the state whose landowners helped lead the civil war against the
north for the primary purpose in keeping their right to own slaves and maintain their privileged way of life, and
who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to remove the Confederate Flag from atop their Capitol building.
It is the most manipulative facet of the film. And there are others. It is also not the only historical inaccuracy
in the film, although like Gladiator, they rarely take away from the impact of the film.
Mel Gibson is simply fantastic and totally believable as the gentleman farmer with a violent past who fears
he will have to pay for his "sins of the past". He handles the action as expertly as the comedy and dramatic
moments he is required to play. Wilkinson plays a very dignified and sympathetic Cornwallis, who hopes to
win the war with honour and welcome the colonies back into the British empire. But the revelation is Jason
Isaacs, who plays his Colonel with British restraint combined with Machiavellian greed. For him winning the
war was the only way in earning a nice chunk of land in the new world, since his disgraced father had squandered
his inheritance. Losing would get him nothing, so he would do whatever he had to in order to win. For him, honour
is in acquiring a materially successful station in life, and he'd rather die than be without wealth. The
Patriot is not really a glorification of American patriotism (which we don't need any more of) but an examination
of the nature of war, of family, and what one is willing to do to win. It is primarily a gripping, well-made story
well-worth seeing.
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