Portrayal of American Revolution and War in The Patriot

The movie “The Patriot is a movie about the Revolutionary war whilst also trying to accurately represent the events that played out during the Revolutionary War. This movie not only addresses the main aspects that came into play when talking about the war but also adds a heartfelt story about a family to keep you engaged. This film pulls in historical accuracy and major historical events that led us to the country that we live in today.

To begin with, I will talk about the writer of the movie “The Patriot”. His name is Robert Rodat and he does not have many previous films that are similar to this topic. The only film that is remotely relevant is the film “Saving Private Ryan” which is also a movie about war but in a different time period so Rodat did have experience with war movies when writing this movie. The director of “The Patriot” is Rolland Emmerich. Emmerich had a lot of experience at the time he was directing the movie after going to college, participating in film festivals, and even directing the movie Godzilla. His specialty type of movies to direct were high action movies which was perfect because what better movie to direct than a movie about one of the major time periods that America was at war. But one discrepancy I do have about Emmerich directing the movie is the fact that he is German and the movie was about American history, so unless he studied very hard before the movie was shot than he most likely did not have very much knowledge or background information prior to shooting this movie. Lastly, actor Mel Gibson who played the main character Benjamin Martin also has experience playing in war movies. Before starring in the movie “The Patriot” he starred in the movie “Braveheart”. Braveheart was a movie based off a Scottish patriot who led battles against Great Britain and he was a symbol for freedom in Scotland at the time. This is similar to the character he plays in this movie as well so this might have also prepared him for this role. Also Rodat (the writer) had Gibson in mind the entire time he was writing the film so this is why he was perfect for the role because the role was made specifically for him.

The movie “The Patriot” was a movie about a farmer and former war hero named Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) who wanted just a normal life with his family after he is no longer an active member of the army and after his wife had passed away. He wanted nothing to do with the war that was going on in the outside world against the Brish Colonies in America and Great Britain but after his son enlisted in the army he knew he would soon have to follow. Not only that but after he was affected personally by the war, because one of his sons were killed by a British officer; he knew that he had to join the fight. Throughout the film it talks about the battles between the colonies and Great Britain and how the majority of the battles Britain was winning. But once the colonists began to win, Britain’s army began to target the soldiers families’ are their homes. This did not stop the Continental army or the militia is only made them want to fight more because they wanted to live in a country where they did not have to fear or hate their form of government. The film ended with a victory for the Americans when Cornwallis finally surrendered.

Background information that was not given in the film directly but can be assumed by the time period and from what is briefly and indirectly stated in the film. The main character Benjamin was a war hero in the French and Indian war and this is why he has experience on the battlefield and why he believes that war should not be the answer to the colonies’ problem and initially refuses to fight. This is also why he wants better for his own children and does not want them to fight either.

There were many things that I noticed in the film that the writers, producers, directors, etc. did and very good job on making the information accurate and then there were only a few things that I noticed were not very accurate and they could have done a better job on. The first thing that I immediately noticed that made me believe that the movie was semi-accurate was the militia. The militia in history was described and basically a last resort or at least when they were being formed they were not taken seriously. The militia was perceived as a joke because at times they could be described as irrational, inconsistent, and unreliable. The militia was irrational because they would sorta just fight for fun and come and go freely. This is also why they were thought to be inconsistent and unreliable. The militia was also seen as irrational because they would kill anyone who served for the British army so they would even shoot the officers which was not supposed to happen, the officers were to be untouched by the battles and the militia played by their own rules. This is also how they are seen in the movie, there are multiple scenes in the movie where the militiamen were seen as dirty and lower class so this might be one of the main reasons why they were not in the Continental army in the first place. By the end of the war in the movie and in actual history, the militia was a crucial part of the Continental Army and without their help the war most likely would have been lost. Continuing on my last point, the way that the militia was formed was also pretty accurate as well because the militia was groups of colonists who were basically self trained soldiers; the way that men were found to serve in the militia was pretty much take what you can get and that is exactly what happened. In the movie they find them in bars and in churches basically just common men. The Continental Army knew that they could not defeat the British Army alone so they called upon their allies the French to help them battle Britain. This is portrayed nearly perfectly in the film because the entire time they mention that the French would be arriving any day now to help them defeat the Britsh when they actually were not going to be there for a long while. This happens both in the movie and it happened when the Revolutionary war was going on as well. One scene though was not supported by any known/ major historical event which was the scene in which they proceed to burn down the church with the entire town in it. This is inaccurate because though, the Britich might have burned down churches they never burned them down with a town full of people in it like they did in the movie.

This film included the background information of the writer, director, and main character of the movie and also a brief summary of what this film was about. This movie was created to show all of the events that happened during the Revolutionary War, such as the formation of the militia and the formation of the Continental Army, how the behavior of the militia was at this time period, how the Revolutionary war played out in the end, and how it all led to where we/ Americans are today.