The Patriot (2000)

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writer (WGA):

Robert Rodat (written by)

Release Date:

28 June 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

What would you do if they destroyed your home, threatened your family. Where would you draw the line?

Plot:

Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.

Plot Keywords:

British | French | South Carolina | Revolution | American Revolution

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Mel Gibson	...	Benjamin Martin
Heath Ledger	...	Gabriel Martin
Joely Richardson	...	Charlotte Selton
Jason Isaacs	...	Col. William Tavington
Chris Cooper	...	Col. Harry Burwell
Tchéky Karyo	...	Jean Villeneuve
Rene Auberjonois	...	Reverend Oliver
Lisa Brenner	...	Anne Howard
Tom Wilkinson	...	Gen. Lord Charles Cornwallis
Donal Logue	...	Dan Scott
Leon Rippy	...	John Billings
Adam Baldwin	...	Capt. Wilkins
Jay Arlen Jones	...	Occam
Joey D. Vieira	...	Peter Howard
Gregory Smith	...	Thomas Martin

Also Known As:

Der Patriot (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong war violence.

Runtime:

165 min | 175 min (extended version)

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:Unrated (extended version) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R15 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R (Certificate #37232)

Filming Locations:

Botany Bay Plantation - 7510 Botany Bay Road, Edisto Island, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Rocking chairs are not believed to have been common furniture before the early 19th century. While Col. Martin is waiting in Gen. Cornwalis' office, he notices and begins to specifically examine the rocking chair in the corner, finally going so far as to sit in it. (Though apocryphal, Benjamin Franklin is sometimes attributed with inventing the rocking chair.)

Goofs:

Continuity: The scene near the end of the movie where Cornwallis is speaking to Tavington in Cornwallis' mansion, Tavington is starting to pull off his leather gloves, finger-by-finger. A split-second later, his gloves are off and his hands are behind his back.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[repeated line]
Benjamin Martin: I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

Soundtrack:

Leanin' on de Lawd Side

Well worth seeing - and accurate on many fronts

The Patriot is NOT a documentary. It didn't pretend to be, and wasn't. Loosely based upon Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox"), it only touched on Marion's impact on the Revolution in South Carolina. If anything, it was downplayed. For instance, in real life, he had over 150 men in his guerrilla band. The movie portrayed much less. As a documentary, it fails on this and other points. As a movie, it is a tremendous success.

As far as visuals, it was stunning. The wide-open vistas and battle scenes were breath-taking and beautifully filmed. Yes, it was violent, but that lent a realism to the film that most other films about this era lack. The look and feel of this period was portrayed well.

The acting was superb. I won't give anything away, but this did NOT have either a "Hollywood" plot or much of a "Hollywood" ending, as I feared it would. That was impressive, and made the film genuine, exciting and at times, shocking. Plot points such as Benjamin Martin's youngest daughter's feelings about her daddy, and the romance between his son and a young girl were touching, and even emotional.

I found some things complain about. Crisp, clean, brand-new Colonial American flags suddenly appear after, and during, the final battle. In reality they would have been rags by then – or at least not so clean. One bad bit of dialogue: Benjamin Martin is on the beach with his sister-in-law, and he asks if he can sit down. Her reply, "It's a free country – or soon will be." was a 20th century throw-away line dressed up with a 1780 caveat, and I cringed at it.

The film was historically accurate in many respects. The formal way of speaking, plus the family-above-all, loyalty-to-The-Cause attitudes expressed throughout, were genuine, even though both are out of favor today. Children using weapons, and going off to fight on a moment's notice, was not an uncommon story, and supposedly happened in a branch of my own family. Relationships like Martin's and his wife's sister did occur, often out of necessity. I was surprised to read afterwards that the battle tactics of the last scene occurred, almost exactly as shown, at the Battle of Cowpens, including fierce hand-to-hand combat. Colonel Banastre Tarleton – the basis for the movie's character William Tavington – was indeed seen as a war criminal by American colonists at the time, and the real Tarleton even had a horse shot out from under him!

But was it biased? Sure it was. Roughly a third of the American colonists were Loyalists, another third were `rebels', and another third were undecided. It would have made the story more complete and complex to portray this (or the time Tarleton mistakenly slaughtered some of those very Loyalists!) But I've read a poem online, "Ode to Valour", dedicated to Col. Tarleton's "heroic exploits" that would shame modern-day propagandists.

I think we all accept that not every British officer of this era was a monster. In fact, in the movie – as in real life - Cornwallis and other British officers were appalled that the "Ghost"/Swamp Fox did not play by the rules of "civilized warfare", and chastised characters like Tavington who also breached them. The real Swamp Fox knew a bit about balance, however. After after the war, when the real Francis Marion served in the South Carolina Senate, he is said to have advocated a lenient policy toward the Loyalists. The real Tarleton survived the war, went home to write his memoirs, was seen as a hero, and was elected to Parliament. Maybe we need a sequel to cover all of these other aspects of the story. Until then, this one is a must-see.