I thought it was a good movie, but historically it is not true to history or the time. Important theme, but too gory and too longid save it for video. Politically, socially, and culturally, the patriot attempts to give a sense of the scope of aspects involved in the american revolution. In fact, the patriot turns a blind eye to slavery altogether, a decision that received much attention from critics including director spike lee. The true story behind the post movie revealed that it was deputy national editor mary lou beatty who was on the phone call. The patriot isnt much about character though, so after setting up a wisp of a wartime plot martin and his roving band of vastly outnumbered rebel militia men must keep general cornwallis.
Martin is based on a sanitised composite of several historical. The patriot in my opinion is a great historical flick. More seriously from the standpoint of historical accuracy, the 54th, portrayed in the movie as. The patriot teachers guide for many americans, hollywood serves as the producer of history. A scene early in the movie where martin wipes out twenty redcoats on his own.
One situation that people were particularly angry about was the part when a whole bunch of people were locked in a building and then the building was burned. It seems to me that unless you are making a documentary, the historical accuracy doesnt truly matter in detail. Some inaccuracies are introduced to create an illusion of authenticity. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to factbased news and analysis. The patriot the movie, the patriot, is the story of a south carolina plantation owner, benjamin martin, who leads a local militia against british troops in the south during the beginning of the american revolutionary war. This film is believed to be very inaccurate by many critics but i would say that it is somewhat both accurate and inaccurate. The patriot, like glory, while inaccurate in its historical details, distills the essence of the nobility, sacrifice, and suffering necessary to found and keep such a republic. Ive been using parts of it in my usi class for years. The patriot the patriot is a 2000 american historical war film the film mainly takes place in york county, south carolina. Still, the downside is to overattribute their bad behavior to british thinking. Historical accuracy of the mel gibson movie the patriot 2000. According to the patriot, slavery was practically nonexistent in south carolina and really not that bad, anyway. But what you didnt see was the fact that the movie doesnt relate to. There were also other details in the film that were not accurately shown.
The patriot was released in 2000 and is a mel gibson vehicle check out the poster. It was very accurate in terms of the politics portrayed within the film, particularly the reactions of the citizens in 1776 when voting to go to war. The few slaves shown are a cheerful lot, all of whom have been given their freedom to retire to a beachside cabana. The film industry has long offered its version of historic events, with. Looking at its historical accuracy, we can find the good and bad representations as well as the truly ugly decisions that truly twist history. In the movie the british are show burning down a church with. The patriot the movie, the patriot, is the story of a south carolina plantation owner, benjamin martin, who leads a local militia against british troops in the south during the beginning of the. Everything wrong with the patriot in 16 minutes or less. Here again the movie is somewhat misleading when it comes to nixon. The patriot is a 2000 american epic historical fiction war film directed by roland emmerich, written by robert rodat, and starring mel gibson, chris cooper, heath ledger, and jason isaacs. That is a really shitty way of looking at it that reeks more of the multiverse theory, added onto the cyclic universes theory, than history. However, i doubt the historical accuracy of a number the films events and characters. Patriots day, the newest film from director peter berg and star mark wahlberg, recreates the events of the boston marathon bombings of 20. History is full of noteworthy people and events that are just ripe for the screenwriter s picking and often result in.
In an interview, gibson acknowledged, some of the worst crimes were committed. The patriot is a 2000 american historical war film directed by roland emmerich, written by robert rodat, and starring mel gibson, chris cooper, and heath ledger. The 2004 epic film troy catches quite the break when it comes to historical films. She is there to hide the fire hydrant on the street underneath her dress. Essay about historical accuracy of the patriot 950 words. Historical inaccuracies of the patriot by roberto loya on. He would go to make a name for himself in his exploits in the south, starting with moncks. Did president nixon ban the washington post from the white house for reporting on the pentagon papers. The patriot historical critique of accuracies benjamin martin is a composite character made up of thomas sumter, daniel morgan, andrew pickens, and francis marion all whom are real people.
I love the movie itself its massively entertaining, and heath ledger just kills his role in the film. The movie depicts a story of an american who is swept into the american revolutionary war when his family is threatened. At the beginning of the movie when benjamin is taking the children to aunt charlottes house in charleston, there is a woman on the street that does not move, and wearing a big hoop dress. The patriot is a 2000 american epic historical fiction war film directed by roland emmerich. Certain events, battles, and people are depicted in the patriot for historical accuracy. Its 4th of july in america, which means we celebrate our independence. A few key deviations from revolutionary war history deflate the impact of. Compare the movie the patriot with historical reality. The film mainly takes place in rural berkeley county, south carolina, and depicts the story of an american colonist, nominally loyal to the british crown. Benjamins character is based on the swamp fox, francis martin. This rose tinted view of history is at its worst during the churchburning scene where a.
The film purports to be a history of the american revolution. Although the historical advisor for the film is the smithsonian institute it does not seem to have noticed that the toy soldiers used in the film. At the beginning of the movie when benjamin is taking the children to aunt charlottes house in charleston, there. The patriot is pure, blatant american hollywood propaganda. The movie, the patriot, begins in 1776, in south carolina. You also see the uniforms they wore to battle, and the guns they used and how they were used. The patriot historically inaccurate and despite my problems with it, it was good enough to. The other night, i rewatched the patriot, starring mel gibson. On the plus side, the patriot does rekindle ones appreciation for liberty and the cost of aquiring it, and the patriot does have fine acting. Most of the names do have historical value however. So this year we decided to go looking for sins in a very patriotic movie.
Slavery was a repulsive, evil institution but history is full of horrible practices. This movie is a pretty entertaining film, despite the fact that it lacks much historical accuracy and highly controversial for it criticized for demonizing the british army, and for whitewashing slavery out of the time. Still, the movie directed by roland emmerich of disaster movie fame, gave us a movie worth watching on independence day. The persecution of martin by cornwallis army was real and based on francis marion. The popular film the patriot is loosely based on the exploits of several real life historical figures including a british officer, lt. And that is extremely sad in a movie that sells itself as an accurate portrayal of events. Patriot, troy, and robin hood are extremely inaccurate. Germans did this as well in ww2, if a soldier turned up dead with no real suspect other than the local population, it was common to kill multiple civi. Principal among the movies gross inaccuracies is the portrayal of british. This is also the battle in which general cornwallis is pushed back and the french arrive which ventually leads to an american victory in the revolution.
The truth is that people like marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the british. Principal among the movies gross inaccuracies is the portrayal of british soldiers as evil, bloodthirsty sadists. Killing civilians in this way is was fairly standard procedure for an army occupying a country. Cos the worst thing they could do was to torture and kill their loved ones if they didnt give up the fight. Benjamin martin is a composite character made up of thomas sumter. The films historical accuracy is also part of what makes it great. The first was entertaining but largely fictional and the second was factually accurate but lacked dramatic tension.
In fact, it is doubtful if the purpose of the film was to be historically accurate. But as an amateur wannabe history buff, there were some significant historical inaccuracies of the patriot that stood out. Adding more credibility to the historical accuracy of this film was the. In the movie s version of events, the revolution is nearly lost because general george washington and the main patriot army are being pursued by a much larger british army in the north, while cornwallis has destroyed the rebel army in the south. Historical accuracy of the mel gibson movie the patriot.
Glory historically accurate, worthy of watching the movie glory is incredibly accurate in its story of the 54th massachusetts regiment, the first all black regiment in the history of the united states. The movie portrays the colonists rebellion against the british as a way of leaving injustice. While it is true that partisan bands operated freely throughout south carolina, and. Im convinced the only reason they change his name is because mel gibson wanted to kill the bad guy with a. Benjamin martin seems to be a man of many morals and principles in the movie but the character he was portrayed as francis marion was a fanatic of indian killing for fun. In factchecking the patriots day movie, we discovered that the film was born from two screenplays, one that revolved around the manhunt boston strong and one based on a 60 minutes episode about the bombing patriots day. Mackubin thomas owens is professor of strategy and force planning at the naval war college in newport, ri, and an adjunct fellow of the ashbrook center. The patriot, 2000 top 10 historically misleading films. But as you can see it is more inaccurate than it is accurate. Is the movie the patriot historically accurate answers. The patriot is a similar film made during the modern day time about a time period in which none of the experienced the real revolution. The imagery is good, but again, it is propaganda and a glorification of a awful historical figure. During that time troops were very important therefore it was not good idea that parts of the troops would simply running.
British as cruel killers, it compared them to historys worst. The patriot is a movie that seems to have been made as historically correct as possible while adding a personal and emotional side behind it. The patriot is one of the most polarizing recent historically based movies. He likes to present his view of history whether it is accurate or. This is not an example of the work produced by our essay writing service. Certainly, i enjoy films better when they seem to be a reasonably accurate portrayal of a time costumes, technologies, but i dont carp about whether some person. Gladiator is more accurate but even then so much is changed. In short, the patriot is to history as godzilla was to biology. You can view samples of our professional work here. The four battles depicted in this movie were taken from five original battles that really happened.
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