The Patriot

Happy Independence Day to all my online readers. Today we will celebrate with another patriotic movie. Now you might be thinking that I will review the “Independence Day” sequel, but I haven’t seen that. I’m actually not wanting to go to the theater to watch it, especially since I haven’t heard good reviews of it. My review on the "Independence Day" sequel will be posted next year since I'm thinking of waiting until the DVD comes out to rent and watch it. Instead, let’s take a look at another movie. I’m thinking about the 2000 movie, “The Patriot.”

This is a story arguing the uselessness of nonviolence, set against the environment of the Revolutionary War. Roger Ebert said in his review, “It is rousing and entertaining, and you get your money's worth, but there isn't an idea in it that will stand up to thoughtful scrutiny.”

The British are seen as manly narcissus or sadistic beings, and the Americans are broken in two categories: brave or braver. Ebert said, “Those who have a serious interest in the period will find it a cartoon; those raised on summer action movies will find it more stimulating than most.”

Mel Gibson is our star, in a powerful and effective performance, as a widower named Benjamin Martin with seven children. He saw plenty of the battle in the French and Indian Wars, and was scared by what he found out about himself. He counsels a treaty with King George. He is asked about his principles by an old army friend, played by Chris Cooper, he replies, “I’m a parent. I haven’t got the luxury of principles.” However, he gets some really quickly, after the jerk British Colonel William Tavington (Jason Isaacs), arrests Martin’s eldest son Gabriel (the late Heath Ledger) and takes him away to be hanged, after first shooting another one of Martin’s sons (Gregory Smith) for no reason and burning down his house.

Ebert mentioned, “Since Martin had merely been treating the wounded of both sides in his home, this seems excessive, and in the long run turns out to be extremely unwise for the British, since Martin goes on to more or less single-handedly mastermind their defeat.” There must have been a handful British officers less of jerks – but none would have given the screenplay’s purpose, which is to show Martin filled with grief, rage and the hunger for revenge.

The following segment is the film’s most difficult to see. Martin and his sons (Trevor Morgan, Bryan Chafin and Logan Lerman) hide in the woods and trap Tavington and his soldiers. Eventually the battle turns into a hand-to-hand fight (with Martin holding a tomahawk). Gabriel is freed, and the younger boys see bloodshed for the first time (“I’m glad I killed them!” one of the children says. “I’m glad!”). The movie’s scenes of carnage have more impact than the handful of killings in a film like “Shaft,” because they are personal, not technical. Individual soldiers, scared and not prepared, are fighting for their lives, while Ebert mentions, “in the modern action movies, most of the victims are pop-up arcade targets.”

The main players in the war (George Washington, King George) are way offscreen, but we do see General Cornwallis, played by Tom Wilkinson, a British leader who, as Ebert said, “promotes a "gentlemanly'' conduct of the war and rebukes Tavington for his brutality. Still, when the Americans refuse to "fight fair'' and adopt hit-and-run guerrilla tactics against the British (who march in orderly ranks into gunfire), Cornwallis bends enough to authorize the evil colonel to take what steps are necessary to bring down Martin (by now legendary as "the Ghost'').”

The movie’s fight scenes are one of two things – disturbing and unlikely. Two fights are near the beginning of the film are conveniently fought in open fields seen from the upper windows of houses, so onlookers have clear view for the show and can give a running narration. No doubt revolutionary battles were fought right there in the grassland, but would Benjamin Martin let his children to stand in the windows, or tell them to hide in the barn? The “real” battles are difficult tests of men and horses, as soldiers ride into sarcastic fire, and the survivors take out their swords or fix their bayonets for a bloody fight in close proximity. Ebert credited, “These battles seem anarchic and pitiless, and respect the movie convention that bitter rivals will sooner or later find themselves face to face.” The scenes are well-shot by the director, Roland Emmerich, working off of a script done by Robert Rodat, the same man who wrote “Saving Private Ryan,” with its equally terrible battle scenes.

Ebert mentioned, “Hollywood movies are at pains these days to provide a role for a heroic African-American or two. A role for a black sailor was found in the segregated U.S. Navy submarine corps in "U-571'' (he was a mess orderly). Now we have a black slave who fights beside white men (even those who hate him) because Gen. Washington has promised freedom for all slaves who fight for a year. Good enough, but why not go all the way and give this character dialogue and a real role to play--instead of demeaningly using him only to count down the months and days until his freedom?” When the former slave, played by Jay Arlen Jones, finally gets two whole sentences in a row, at the end, he quotes Martin’s son: “Gabriel said if we won the war, we could build a whole new world. We could get started right there with your home.” Right. Why not get started with your own home? The movie gives light comic relief to calm the tension (Martin’s handmade chairs keep breaking beneath him), and a love story (Gabriel is in love with Anne, played by Lisa Brenner, a courageous colonial girl who sees him with a patriotic speech.) Anne’s father, played by Joey D. Vieira, is a deaf man who misunderstands things. When Gabriel asks permission to write Anne, the man at first gets offended. Then he says, “Oh…writer her! Of course you may.” What did he think Gabriel had asked? Meanwhile, there’s even female company for the hard-nosed Benjamin Martin, who asks the sister of his late wife, played by Joely Richardson, “May I sit here?” Ebert mentioned, “Her answer got laughs in the screening I attended: "It's a free country--or at least, it will be.'' These passages and others (including the Dead Man Who Is Not Really Dead) have been trucked directly into "The Patriot'' from the warehouse of timeless clichés. They betray the movie's lack of serious intentions.” This basically wanted to be a summer action movie, with a historical shine. It succeeding at being that. Ebert admitted “I enjoyed the strength and conviction of Gibson's performance, the sweep of the battle scenes, and the absurdity of the British caricatures.” None of it has much to do with the historical reality of the Revolutionary War, but with such a huge budget at risk, how could it?

In the end, I would say that this is a good movie nonetheless. I recommend this movie and say check it out. Mika Boorem and the late Skye McCole Bartusiak are playing Gibson’s daughters, with Bartusiak not speaking but gets emotional when her father leaves and saying to not go. That part is one of the saddest parts of any movie ever. Watching it will pull at your heartstrings, that I can say. Anyway, check the movie out, you’ll like it.

Check in later today when I review the second “Star Trek” movie.