The Patriot (analysis of the film) - Essay Example

?Analysis of the Film The Patriot 17.3 The Patriot The American Freedom struggle has been the subject of many Hollywood movies. Roland Emmerich's 'The Patriot', released in 2000 was an epic film which created a stir worldwide. The film was released as a novel by Stephen Molstad in the same year. Mel Gibson won various acclaims for portraying the role of Benjamin Martin realistically. The plot of the film revolves around an ex war veteran who had fought for the French Government. A successful farmer and a father with seven children Benjamin Martin is shown as a man with principles, who has lost his belief in war. He is a neutral who does not support either the colonists or the crown. He simply says “I'm a parent. I haven't got the luxury of principles”. But war pulls him into action. Revenge as Motive Benjamin's plantation is targeted by the British armies. They kill one of his sons and take another as captive, burning his property and committing various atrocities just for helping some injured soldiers. Benjamin rescues his son with the help of his other children and starts working in favour of the colonists winning the war for them, though he suffers some personal losses from his side. The death of his beloved son and his loyal servants deeply scars Benjamin. He comes across various atrocities committed by the British army in the US to bring down the resistance. For example, we can mention the burning of his daughter in-laws village church along with all its citizens. The vengeance against the British army is portrayed in several places in the film. Gabriel his elder son is killed by Tavington. Leono Rippy, one of Martin’s confederate’s family members are burned down causing his suicide. Tcheky Karyo Martin’s second command-in line describes how both his daughters were burnt to death by the British people. These experiences turn him into a vengeneful man making revenge the main plot of the film. In a particular scene Benjamin and his colleague visits a filthy restaurant to enlist soldiers for fighting in the American army. Nobody is particularly interested. But, once they say praise the British crown, everybody in the area starts attacking them with pitchfork, knives and rods. The hatred for the Europeans among the Americans is shown comically in this scene. Facts shown in the film Certain facts shown in the film are true while others are completely imaginative. The facts shown about the final battle of the film combined the incidents which took place in the Battles of Cowpens and Guilford court house. The facts are shown from the perspective of the American people rather than from the perspective of the British soldiers. In fact, they are depicted as monsters in most of the film undermining some major victories they achieved in the war. The film creates a rosy world where the good triumphs over the evil because the hero sacrifices his personal benefits and puts the nation in front of him. The Benjamin Martin Character is a combination of various real life war heroes like Joseph Plumb Martin and Francis Marion. Francis Marion known as the Swamp Fox is considered as one of the major soldiers behind the guerrilla attacks which were largely responsible for defeating the British Army during the American freedom fight. The war strategies of Benjamin Martin resemble the way Francis Marion fought. The Guerrilla groups always targeted the head of small platoons first. They were able to imprison the confused and leaderless soldiers much easily once the in-charge was captured. Benjamin's character is shown having a similar lifestyle and education to Joseph Plumb Martin. He belongs to a wealthy family, knows how to read and write and lived as a farmer for most of his life. The Benjamin Martin character's children were also named after original Martin's children as Nathan, Thomas and Susan. One major difference between the Joseph Plumb Martin and Benjamin Martin is that, Joseph volunteered in the American Freedom fight as a youngster and remained as a farmer the rest of his life. The Benjamin Martin character is shown taking part in the French Indian war in his youth, settling down as a farmer for nearly two decades and returning to the American freedom fight in his middle age. The novel written by Stephen Molstad represents Benjamin martin as a man who shows love and respect for all men including the blacks. As elsewhere, Africans did the field labor at Fresh Water, but not one of them was a slave. Everyone knew that Benjamin Martin would hire only freedmen to work at his place--a policy that did not endear him to many of his fellow planters (Molstad, 1). Molstad portrays him as an inventive farmer as well as a loving father who is ready to pledge anything for the sake of his family. As fate has it he is pulled into the war just to save his beloved family. The film depicts the brutality of war and how even children are forced to kill though they like it or not. The film revisits the various trials and tribulations undergone during the era in a vivid way. The Patriot was critically acclaimed and was a massive box office success. But, the historians had a different view about the film. It is said that the character of Benjamin Martin was written solely for Mel Gibson. They put forward three main criticisms about the film. Mel Gibson's star values simply lead the audience to believe the British are 'bad' and whatever the hero does can be unquestionably 'good'. It hides the real history and the politics of the government and the colonists under the name of patriotism. The authors of American Studies: An Anthology emphasizes the same through the following words. The proximate context of The Patriot's reception was shaped by an ongoing debate over the appropriate attitude to assume with regard to the nation's history-specifically whether discussion of shameful political events should overshadow pride in the nation's achievements (Pease, 550). Real Cornwallis vs the Film Cornwallis The film was severely criticized for its portrayal of Lord Cornwallis and Colonel William Tavington the main villain who resembled Banastre Tarleton, an English Colonel in several ways. He is actually shown dying by the end of the film in the war, but the real Banastre Tarleton died fifty years after the war, much later than his arch enemy Francis Marion. But the film shows the villain being taken down by the hero Benjamin Martin. The British press severely criticized overshadowing the acts of such colonist independent groups and portraying the British as the brutal murderers. In real life, Lord Cornwallis was a tactical soldier cum leader who was known to follow the rules of the war to the core and a good humanitarian. But, he was portrayed as comic figure in the film to kindle the feelings of American patriotism. Real life Benjamin The film shows Benjamin character performing various violent acts with his tomahawk. Francis Marion, whose character the onscreen Benjamin was based on was known as a brutal killer by many noted historians like the Christopher Hibbert and William Gilmore Simms who did extensive investigation into the South's history. They conclude Francis Marion and his band which consisted of both white and black men hunted Red Indians for no reason. When addressed with such questions, the director of the film Roland Emmerich simply shrugged saying he cannot create a film which will earn great revenues in the US as well as the UK. Talking from common audience point of view, Mel Gibson’s charm and name were important for the success of the film. Most of the audience came to the theatre expecting something similar to ‘Braveheart’ movie and they got what they expected. Making the film unbiased would have left them unsatisfied. With science fictions ruling the Hollywood it is unavoidable to make certain compromises to take history to the audience, even though it has to be altered slightly. The main villain Tavington character was based on Banastre Tarleton, who is known to follow the rules of the war to the core. However, some other historians like Ben Rubin strongly argue the Tarleton was only a hero in Liverpool, England while he committed several atrocities in the US soil including the Waxhaw massacre in South Carolina. Though it is true that he outlived the original Francis Marion, his character depiction in the film resembles to his original personality to a certain extent. Tarleton was described “Cold-hearted, Vindictive and utterly ruthless” by Christopher Ward (1952) in their book, “The War of the Revolution”. The atrocities committed by Francis Marion do not go unmentioned in the film. The Benjamin Martin character is shown repenting in various parts of the film. One of his famous quotes is “I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear”. Only he is shown committing them during the French and Indian War rather than the American freedom fight. The film portrays lots of drama when it comes to family sentiments and love showing the hero spring back into his old form witnessing the death of his young son and the massacre of his daughter-in-law along with her whole village in a Church. But some or all of these elements are necessary to create an interesting plot in the form of a movie. Though ‘The Patriot’ misrepresents history in some parts and over shadow’s America’s true nature of the war the movie is worth appreciating its painstaking attempt to portray a fictional story at the background of real history. Just as the authors of American Studies: An Anthology state “The film deals with the crisis of values raised during this debate by resituating the conflict between shame and pride within the mythic terrain of the nation's founding”. References 1. Molstad, Stephen. The Patriot: A Novel. HarperEntertainment, 2000. 2. Pease, Donald E. “The Patriot Acts”. American Studies: An Anthology. Ed. Janice A. Radway, Kevin Gaines, Barry Shank, Penny Von Eschen. Blackwell Publishing, 2009. 550. 3. Ward, Christopher. The War of the Revolution. Macmillan Company, 1952. Read More