The Patriot vs The Green Beret - Movie Review Example

The Patriot Background the main theme of the movie is American war of independence. When George III of British Government rejected the American peoples right of vote that brought mutiny among Americans and they rejected the authority of British parliament. Main character of the movie is Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) who fought in the French and Indian war for British government in past. He has seven children 4 boys and 3 girls and he is raising them as a farmer he believes that one has to pay for his sins and regrets his past life as a soldier. In year 1776 it’s the time of declarations of independence to be signed Benjamin is invited to the assembly where Benjamin declares that he is not going to fight in this war as he is father of seven and his wife is dead. After hearing his father’s speech Gabriel the oldest son gets angry and walks out of assembly and signs for the continental army whose commander is Colonel Harry who has fought alongside of Benjamin Martin for British government. Gabriel writes back home all the detail of battle field where his friend dies and one day he returns home wounded. On the next morning when Gabriel wakes up he sees all the wounded soldiers of both sides treated by his father on the mean time British army arrives with their cold hearted colonel who orders the arrest of Gabriel and execution of wounded soldiers of Continental army. When Benjamin’s second eldest son Tomas hears that his brother will be hanged he tries to free his brother and is shot at the moment by the colonel Tavington of British Army, this makes Benjamin mad and blood thirsty for revenge he ambushes the British escort and free his son. Benjamin joins Continental army and starts convincing American people to fight for their country. After assembling militia and training them Benjamin ambushes the convoys of British army and induces heavy damage on them and use gorilla war fare as a tactic. Colonel Tavington finds the where about of Benjamin’s family friends and burns all of them in church. Benjamin’s militia arrives late at the scene and new wed wife of Gabriel’s also dies in the church event. Gabriel chases colonel Tavington with his militia group to take revenge but is killed by colonel Tavington. On the battle field of Cowpens Benjamin’s militia brings British army into a trap for Continental soldiers and when moral of continental and militia are down Benjamin raises American flag stitched by Gabriel to raise the moral of fellow soldiers. In end Colonel Tavington is killed by Benjamin and after winning the war Benjamin returns home to his family where his late wife’s sister and his children are waiting for him. Analysis: The patriot was released in the year 2000 and it is about the American war of independence. In 18th century British imperials favored policy of mercantilism and Navigation acts which favored British government to import all the precious metals in the mother country, in 1764 tax by the British government was levied on molasses and sugar. In 1765 stamp act was passes by British parliament which was in favor of British government in last When George III king of England rejected the right to vote of American colonies. It became the major cause of war of independence and declaration of independence was signed. The movie reflects the political view of the people who were not given their due rights. (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia) At the early times the political power was in the hands of the British imperials. On the other hand, the colonies passed the declaration of independence in 1776 which supported democratic system. The motivational theory the movie can relate to is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (Norwood) The American colonies’ physiological needs were not fulfilled because of the heavy taxes applied on them and similarly their safety needs weren’t fulfilled because they did not have a right to vote. This created the urge and motivation to fight for their rights. In this way the entire colony was united and they all fought for their own and each other’s rights. The Green Beret The movie starts with the media interviewing Green Beret soldiers. Green Beret is a Special operation Forces group of United States Army. They are specialized in unconventional warfare, emergency areas, hostage rescue and direct action. In interview soldiers are asked why they are fighting war in Vietnam their reply is that these decisions are made by our superiors but we believe our superiors as Innocent people are being killed in Vietnam, we have to do something at the end of the interview soldiers displayed some weapons used by Vietnam fighters they were from Russia and china. It depicts that United States of America as a Democratic government does not like the influence of Communist powers in south East Asia. Colonel Kirby (Leading role) is then posted to South Vietnam with 2 A team attachments and deploys his forces in Us Army base camp near Cambodian border. After taking charge of the camp Colonel Kirby orders for extra security measures and orders to remove trees near the camp which can be used for an ambush. Colonel Kirby fighting for the different battle field as there are no front lines enemies Vietnam Communist soldiers known as VC are using gorilla war fare they usually ambush and attack at night to create chaos and terror but Colonel is an experienced man with the guts, Colonel Kirby suspects a spy for VC in their camp and his sergeant finds the black sheep while he was calculating the distance in camp by walking. Soon Colonel Kirby’s team finds out the location of VC troops and destroys them with their gunship helicopters. Beckworth the newspaper reporter who joined Colonel Kirby’s base camp with his permission notices the gravity of the situations when nearby villagers came for help. On the next day most of the villagers are brutally murdered by VC for not accepting the offer of joining the VC troops. As the situation on the battle field is getting tense VC troops plan to attack on the Us Army base camp at night with large number of infantry the Green Beret holds up the base camp but there are too many civilians and chances of causalities are bright Green Beret start retreating after clearing up the area from civilians. Retreat is a war tactics to kill all the VC troops by air strike and heavy gunfire from plane in base camp. Colonel Kirby with remaining soldiers secures the base camp in the morning. After the end of battle Beckworth now understands what’s really going on in Vietnam and the accusations by media on us Army is not the reality he then joins another Us Army squad. On the other hand Colonel Cai and Colonel Morgan invites Colonel Kirby to join them in a top secret plan of capturing General T of VC troops. General T is the man controlling VC troops. Colonel CAI uses her sister in law as a mouse trap for General T and captures him successfully but at the loss of Peterson. Ham chuck war orphan boy who was attached to Peterson cried over his death a touching moment. In the end Colonel Kirby places his green beret on Ham chuck and takes his hand and the two starts walking. Analysis: The Green Beret was released in 1968 and as mentioned in the summary, it is related to the Vietnam war. The war was the after effect of French colonial war. Vietnam was under rule of France for several decades until china started helping Vietnam public. It started in November 1957 and continued till April 1975. The basic reason for the conflict was the influence of communist’s power in Vietnam (Southeast Asia); America as a democratic government depicted it as a threat to the whole world. The movie was influenced by American government policy. It portrayed the cruelty of the communist culture. VC (Vietnam Communists troops) was shown as villains. They tortured and murdered their own people and made them obey them in every possible way. (Hickman) The motive of the VC troops behind the war was to unite the northern and southern Vietnam under communist rule. On the other hand the Green Berets were fighting for the rights of civilians. From the point of view of the civilians, their motivation was due to fulfilling their basic physiological needs of hunger, clothing, shelter and safety. This led them to believe in the US army which treated them as human beings. This can again relate to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Comparison The two movies were rightfully related to actual events that happened in the American and Vietnam history respectively and both are about the war of independence. However the characters are purely fictional. American colonies were ruled by British imperials and Vietnamese were under the influence of communist powers (China and Russia). In the patriot, the events are mostly true and have historical significance and showed victory of American colonies which turned into United States of America. But the story moves around an imaginary character Benjamin and his family that how he and his sons motivated the people to join Militia and fight for the independence of their countries. As a matter of fact one man cannot be the major cause of revolution and cannot be the only reason to win the war. Benjamin used the means of Guerrilla warfare to induce heavy damage on the British army and killed hundreds of their soldiers. He also outwitted the general of the British army and therefore had a heroic character. Overall the movie did not have biasness to any specific community. However the Green Beret was from the democratic point of view and depicted that communist states have brutal laws and support outlaws which are threat to society. The events in the Green Beret were mostly fictional like the lead character colonel Kirby was deployed in the army base near Cambodian border as there are no such historical details of US military base near Cambodian border in Vietnam. The colonel Kirby was depicted as a tough man who was highly experienced in the battlefield. He knew all the tactics of warfare. The Green Beret team had given refuge to civilians in the military base that is hot spot for battlefield and is a vulnerable place for ambush attacks. Overall the stories of both the movies were influential and the characters did justice to their roles. They depicted the positive aspect of American Government policies and that they respect human freedom and rights. Bibliography Brown, T. Louise. War and Aftermath in Vietnam. London and New York: Routledge, 1991. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. "American Revolution." American Revolution. Columbia Electronic, 7 1 2010. Hickman, Kennedy. About.com. n.d. 28 November 2010 . Norwood, George. Deepermind. 15 August 2008. 28 November 2010 . Read More