Introduction
The American Revolutionary War was a turning point in the history of the United States of America. It signified the independence of America from the British colonizers. The war surrounding this independence of America has been featured in films such as The Patriot. Through such films, everyone can learn about historical wars that shaped the future of the United States (Ansen 58). However, the questions that arise from such movies as The Patriot is if they are truly historically accurate in their character depiction, scenery and weapons that were used, what the film got right and what it got wrong and if the movie is a good picture of the events that took place in the past. In this essay, the focus will be answering the questions of how the film fits in historical contexts in terms of its character description and examine how rightly the directors were in the movie as well as an overall verdict of its appropriateness as a historical representation of the Revolutionary war in the United States of America.
Summary of film The Patriot
The Patriot film depicts a life of Benjamin Martin as a hero from French and Indian War that inspired the American revolutionary war against the British in 1776. Martin is from South Carolina and windowed father of seven children. His life on their farm is ideally peaceful and Martin dislikes fighting with English men even though Gabriel, his eldest son, had joined the “Continental Army”. However, the coming of the British soldiers into his farm when his son and other Continental Army soldiers are already exhausted from the war and recuperating changes his attitudes towards the war. The order of the evil Colonel William Tavington to set ablaze the house of Benjamin for his role in treating the wounded soldiers of the revolution instantly changed his attitudes towards the British soldiers whom he also treated when they showed on his doorsteps looking for help. Colonel Tavington also captures Benjamin’s eldest son as a war prisoner and while the young son tries to rescue his elder brother, he is shot by Tavington, remarking of the boy as stupid (Fritz and Rachel 67).
This apparent loss of two sons and plantation forces Benjamin to take war as his responsibility. This makes Benjamin to set aside his vows of pacifism and rescue his son. He thus instantly kills twenty soldiers who had burnt his plantation. Benjamin sends his family to live with his sister-in-law in her farm. He then regroups together with his eldest son and other continental Army soldiers with an aim to fight for the cause. The militias that Benjamin helped create wages war against the British. The militia succeeds to rescue Gabriel and they fight along with him for a considerable amount of time causing mayhem on the British but sadly before they could win the battle, Benjamin loses his son Gabriel through the sword of Tavington. This film clearly demonstrates the violence that resulted and the exploits of Benjamin’s men and the British Soldiers led by Tavington. Eventually, the duel is put to rest with Benjamin’s vengeance for his sons, the death of Colonel Tavington and the end of Revolutionary war.
Historical Accuracy
Overall, the film is historically accurate with the scenery in the film and clothing worn by the characters keeping it themed to revolutionary period in the American history. The scenes depict with near accuracy the events and battle scenes that took place during the revolutionary war in the South (Weston 103). Throughout the movie, there is a graphical depiction of battle scenes with military tactics and weaponry of the time well displayed. On the final battle scene in the movie, an excellence depiction of brutality typified by the revolution war is well shown with soldiers lined up shooting one another. This shooting happens while the soldiers do not protect themselves with any shield or shelter. All they do is stand in a line across the enemy and fire their guns into opposing soldiers. Both muskets and pistols as the main weapon used by the soldiers are authentic in their usage during the revolutionary war in America. The time it took loading the weapons is another accuracy of The Patriot film in history.
Mel Gibson’s character is probably one of the most contentious in the film. He is a composite of significant early patriotic leaders in the American Revolution of Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter. He makes his headquarters on an island just like Marion. Marion had military experiences in commanding militia units in fights against Cherokee Indians with guerrilla tactics of forests and swamps which he used as cover and evasion. His heroism with military skills gave him credit for a daring rescue of American troops from the British forces in South Carolina. These are the same qualities and heroism that Mel Gibson as Martin Benjamin portrays in the film The Patriot. He is a veteran of the French war and is skilled in fighting the British taking advantage of forests and swamps (Fritz and Rachel 67). He single-handedly helped organize the continental army to rescue his son from the British. Eventually, he defeated the British army.
Historical inaccuracy
Critics, however, argue that the portrayal of British soldiers as evil and blood thirsty men was inaccurate. The British soldiers are represented as cruel with colonel Tavington believing that the war had no limits as he would kill when it suited him. The scene where the British soldiers surround a village with women and the children who are screaming and later on lock them in a church before setting it ablaze is a major historical misrepresentation. There is no identical crime that happened in the Revolutionary war. This only happened with Nazi soldiers in 1944 in France. In this film, the British soldiers are represented as Nazis and this is certainly wrong.
Another inaccuracy of the film is the portrayal of the Benjamin Martin as Marion who was a militia leader in South Caroline. In the movie, Martin is depicted as a family man who heroically single-handedly defeated many hostile British soldiers. Evidence has, however, shown that Marion was active in persecuting Cherokee Indians and regularly raped his own female slaves (Utami 45). His heroic acts as portrayed by the character of Benjamin suggest that, overall, Marion was a good man whose character was beyond reproach. Not only does the film The Patriot ignore the plight of slavery at that time but also inaccurately portrays that it possibly did not exist and if it did, people were not concerned with their rights. This is a departure from history since it is documented that slavery existed and there were efforts to abolish it.
Characters
The central character in the film is Benjamin Martin who though at first is conscious of his domestic duties of bringing up his family in a peaceful environment hence reluctant to join the revolutionary war forcefully to respond to tyranny of the British finally joins the violent war to protect his family. He had renounced use of violence after the end of the French war and subscribed to pacifisms (Nurjani 34). In his reasoning, he views a righteous person as avoiding violence at the cost of even his personal pride and dignity, its evil that leaves him with no choice but use of violence in defending his beloved family members and the innocent. Protecting the family is when a person discovers the patriot in themselves.
Col. Tavington, who is the commander of the brutal British soldiers, represents modern paramilitary agencies which are cruel in their methods to silence critics. They use all conspiracies to conduct atrocities anytime on innocent citizens (Nurjani 24). The characters of other men in the militia including Gabriel who had joined the continental army depicts of people in the society willing to risk their lives for the sake of justice and patriotism.
What the Movie Got Right and Wrong
The directors of the film represented only one view of the war assuming that the audience have knowledge of why revolutionary war too place in America. In their view the politics beyond the war was that the British were cruel and brutal while the Americans were right and were people who were moral and always stood for justice and loyalty. This is one sided view on the part of both the Americans and the British (Ansen 58). Critics argue that The Revolutionary patriots did not give chances for the British to make their stand on the issues that were of contention between the Americans and the British such as taxation and trade. In their view not only did the director error in assuming that the average audiences were aware of the real causes of Revolutionary Patriots but painted a bad image of the British colonizers, their principles and values. Overall the directors painted an almost true picture of the Revolution War in America.
Conclusion
The Patriot is entertaining and is intended to inspire patriotism among Americans. Its goal was to represent the freedom fighters as imperative historical figures that deserve recognition for their role is shaping the history of the nation. It simply emphasizes that freedom necessarily doesn’t come free the Revolutionary war was fought. During this time the Blacks and the Whites peaceably interacted in major battles. The reference to major battles, military tactics used in the revolutionary war, historical figures and freed slaves makes the film relevant in the study of American history. The lifestyle of the communities during the American Revolution that lived in plantations and heavily taxed reinforces its appropriateness as a historical representation of the events of the Revolutionary War (Weston 101). Though the film at times isn’t necessarily historically correct, to a large extent it’s a good expression of true accounts of the Revolutionary war in the South.
Work Cited
Ansen, David. "Red, White, Black and Blue." Newsweek. 26 June 2000. 58-64. Movie Review.
Fritz, Suzanne, and Rachel Aberly. The Patriot: The Official Companion. Carlton Books Limited, 2000. Print.
Nurjani, Peni. Freedom And Sacrifice In Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot Movie: A Sociological Approach. Diss. Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta. 2008. Print.
Utami, Mariana Sri. “The Struggle for Freedom of Roland Emmerick’s The Patriot Movie: An Individual Psychological Approach.” Diss. Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, 2008. Document.
Weston, Rowland. "Introducing theoretical issues through popular historical films." Teaching History: A Journal of Methods 35.2 (2010): 92-103. Print.
