THE PATRIOT (2000 FILM)

'''The Patriot''' is a 2000 film starring Mel Gibson and directed by Roland Emmerich. Produced by the Mutual Film Company and Centropolis Entertainment, it was written by Robert Rodat and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film mainly takes place in South Carolina and depicts the fictional account of a war hero swept into the American Revolutionary War when his family is threatened.

Contents

Plot summary

Soundtrack

Trivia

Historical Inaccuracies and Mistakes

Awards

References

Resources

External links

Plot summary

It is the late 18th century, in South Carolina. Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) is a veteran of the French and Indian Wars and a widower raising seven children on his farm. Gabriel, the eldest, played by Heath Ledger, is anxious to join the American forces fighting the British in the Revolutionary War, without his father's permission. Martin, who knows from first-hand experience the horrifying carnage that war presents, is anxious to discourage his son from participating.
Against his father's wishes, Gabriel does join up only to return home wounded as he is carrying dispatches between commanders. Martin's second son Thomas (Gregory Smith), is killed trying to free Gabriel as he is taken prisoner, shot by the cold-hearted Col. William Tavington (Jason Isaacs). This enrages Martin to free his son Gabriel, with the help of his two younger sons Nathan and Samuel (played by Trevor Morgan and Bryan Chafin), in brutal fashion Gabriel is freed, the sons are amazed. Gabriel re-joins the cause against his father's will again stating it is his duty as a soldier. Benjamin Martin decides to join the fight later when he catches up with his son and they report together. During this time, Gabriel then marries Anne Howard (Lisa Brenner), a wartime marriage during a furlogh. However, after the marriage, returning home, Anne, her father and her mother, along with all the townspeople are burned alive whilst locked in the church, at the orders of Tavington.
After a furious Gabriel discovers what has happened, he and a small group of men ride to engage the Dragoons a small elite force of British soldiers. During the fight, all but four men are killed: Tavington and a British soldier, and the Reverend and Gabriel. As the Reverend helps Gabriel to finish off the British soldier, he turns to Tavington and is subsequently too slow to prevent himself being shot. As he falls, he throws his gun to Gabriel, who in turn shoots Tavington. Gabriel watches as Tavington groans and falls to the ground, dropping his own gun. Gabriel slowly makes his way over to Tavington, knife in hand. He looks down at him, breathing heavily, before flipping the knife and attempting to stab Tavington. However, just as he does, Tavington turns around and stabs Gabriel himself with a sword. Gabriel lies dying as Tavington runs off, Gabriel's father Benjamin finally appears only to find his son about to die, in a most moving scene of a father's love for his dying son.
In the final battle, Col. Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper) and Jean Villeneuve (Tchéky Karyo) help Benjamin defeat the British. It's during this battle in which Benjamin finally kills Col. Tavington, the man responsible for the deaths of two of his sons. As Tavington gains the upper hand in their vicious fight, and Benjamin is staring into the distance, Tavington mutters, "Kill me before the war is over, will you? It appears, you are not the better man..." As he swings his sword ready to kill Benjamin, Martin ducks down, picks up a musket with a bayonet attached and stabs Tavington in the chest. Martin then picks up a detached bayonet and replies, "You're right... my sons were better men!", and impales him in the throat.
Meanwhile, a disappointed General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) sounds the retreat as the rebels celebrate. As Martin narrates, we are told that the British were defeated when the French finally arrived to block the British off. The final scene features Martin and his family arriving at a site where the foundations of homes lie. Occam tells Martin, "Gabriel said if we won the war, we could build a whole new world. Just figured we'd get started right here, with your home". Benjamin's family smiles as he replies, "Sounds good", before shaking hands with Occam and Dan Scott and walking into the forwards with his family, as the film ends.

Soundtrack

★ ''See: The Patriot (soundtrack).

Trivia

★ When originally written, Benjamin Martin had 6 children, but in the movie Martin has 7 children. This was changed based on the number of children Mel Gibson has.

★ The producers and director chose Heath Ledger to play the role of Gabriel Martin because, in their opinion, Ledger was a man who possessed "exuberant youth."

★ When teaching Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger how to shoot a muzzle-loading rifle, technical advisor Mark Baker gave them the advice to "aim small, miss small", meaning that if you aim at a man and miss, you miss the man, while if you aim at a button (for instance) and miss, you still hit the man. Gibson liked this bit of advice so much he incorporated it into the movie, just prior to the ambush scene.

★ One of the "redcoats" that is floating face down in the river after the trap is a dummy of John Travolta.

★ Harrison Ford declined the lead role, feeling the script had boiled the Revolutionary War down to a "one-man's-revenge" melodrama.

★ Heath Ledger performed his own stunts.

★ Screenwriter Robert Rodat wrote 17 drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one.

★ In an earlier version of the script, Anne is pregnant with Gabriel's child when she dies in the burning church.

★ Laurence Olivier Theatre Award winning British actor Ben Daniels received a role alongside Mel Gibson in this film, but refused the offer, citing that the "money was good, but it wasn’t for me."^[1]

★ Around the same time as Sony's infamous fictitious writer scandal, it was revealed that a Sony marketing executive had hired her assistant and another employee, both African-American, to pose as a couple for an "outside the theatre" testimonial. Fearing that black audiences would be turned off by an action film set during slavery, the employees referred to the film as a "great date movie".

★ Col. William Tavington was based on Col. Banastre Tarleton, who was a cavalry commander under general Cornwallis. Historians often portray him in the same way as Tavington was portrayed in the movie. Unlike Tavington, he survived the war.

Historical Inaccuracies and Mistakes

When Colonel Harry Burwell is trying to persuade South Carolina to give money to assist for the war effort, he claims he fought at Bunker Hill. He says that the rebels killed "700 redcoats at point blank range". In reality, only 300 or so redcoats died at Bunker Hill.
At the end of the movie, the French naval battleships attacking Cornwallis' army are carrying the modern blue, white and red French flag, which didnt appear till after the French Revolution some 10 years later. French ships at this time should have been carrying the fleur de lys insignia.
When the French ships are bombarding Cornwallis' army, the hulls of the French ships are painted black with yellow stripes along the gunports. This scheme was used only by the Royal Navy and only became popular during the Napoleonic Wars.
Great Danes were not known by that name till the end of the 19th century. At this time they were called Boar Hounds.
The soldier who was an American then later joins the British says he knows Martin so well he knows his boot size. Boots were not manufactured in sizes till after the American Civil War.
When Charlotte and the children are hiding from the redcoats in a root celler, they pass a basket full with bread and wrapped in cellophane. Cellophane wasnt invented till 1906.
In many battles, the two armies come to within 30-40 yards of each other. The actual firing distance that both sides closed to was generally around 100 yards. By the time an army got to within 40 yards of their enemy, they would have received 4 volleys +.
The film depicts the British redcoats massacring civilians by setting fire to a locked church. No such atrocity ever took place during the war (and the director's commentary admits this); the incident mirrors a massacre carried out by German soldiers in France in June 1944.
During the ambush on the British column to rescue Gabriel, one of Martin's sons looks up to see if he has shot a redcoat. The Redcoats return fire and the scene switches to Martin's son. He looks for several seconds then ducks, then the shot impacts the wood. The shot would have impacted much prior to him ducking.

Awards

★ ''The Patriot'' was an Oscar nominee in 2001 for the following categories: Best Cinematography, Best Music, Original Score

★ Nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Action/ Adventure/Thriller Film in 2001

★ Won the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases

★ Nominated for the Excellence in Production Design Award for the following category: Feature Film- Period or Fantasy Films

★ Won the BMI Film Music Award.

★ Won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for the following category: Favorite Actor- Drama (Mel Gibson), and Favorite Male Newcomer (Heath Ledger)

★ Nominated for Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Villain by Internet voting (Jason Isaacs)

★ Won the Bogey Award in Germany

References

1. Ben Daniels. RainbowNetwork.com

Resources

# "The Patriot: The Official Companion" by Suzanne Fritz Rachel Aberly
# "The Patriot: A Novel" by Stephen Molstad

External links

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★ The Patriot Resource