The Patriot: Fight for Independence and Change

Director: Roland Emmerich. Has won the Saturn, Europena Film, and the GLAAD Media awards. He grew up in Germany. He was a student when he started in the film industry, debuting A Noah’s Ark Principle in 1984. He decided to direct The Patriot because he found out that he had a knack for A-level special effects using B-level scenarios and actors. He also directed “Independence Day” (1996), another film fighting for independence. He wanted to be a production designer but after watching “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope,” he decided to change his life plans. Once he landed a few well-known actors, he knew that he could make The Patriot something that people would want to watch. Crucial actors: Mel Gibson (Benjamin Martin), Heath Ledger (Gabriel Martin), Jason Isaacs (Col. William Tavington), Tom Wilkinson (Cornwallis). Theme or thesis of film: The British have abused, cheated, and controlled the Colonists for far too long.

The Patriot is a fine summary of the American Revolutionary Wars. This movie specifically captures the life of Benjamin Martin, a former French/Indian War Hero-turned-farmer, in South Carolina with his seven children and giant plantation. Benjamin is considered to be a Patriot among his peers; however, he refuses to advocate war between Britain and The Colonies. Martin is a man of character and holds himself to high standards throughout his community and family. This film is among the most famous and accurate Revolutionary War movies to this day. The film shows how the British have abused, cheated, and controlled the Colonists for far too long.

When South Carolina votes to welcome a draft into the colonial military, Gabriel, Martin’s eldest son, signs on as an infantryman. Martin strongly disagrees with his son’s choices but can do nothing about them because Gabriel is of legal age (18). As Gabriel leaves town to join his fellow soldiers, Martin continues to work as a plantation owner. Owning and operating a plantation during this time normally meant that one would need hundreds of slaves to farm the land to create enough revenue for the family to prosper; in contradiction of this theory, Benjamin Martin only has free men and women working for him - we see this as a statement made by a nameless worker during the beginning of this film. The War and the Martin’s continue on as normal until one night when the War comes to the Martin’s backyard. Gabriel gets injured and goes home for safety and rest, only to wake up the next morning to “Red Coats” (British) and “Blue Coats” (Colonists) laying on his front porch waiting to be treated. When the British Colonel William Tavington rides up with a command of Officers. Tavington ends up insulting Benjamin Martin, orders that all of the injured Colonists be shot, captures Gabriel as a spy, and shoots Martin’s second oldest son, Thomas.

The death of his son leads Martin to go on a hunting spree of sorts. Martin takes two of his remaining sons, both around 10 years old, and goes after the unit that took Gabriel. Benjamin specifically tells the boys to “kill the officers first and work your way down from there.” Once they find the unit, the two sons and Benjamin kill all of the soldiers and officers alike. The significance of the order to kill the officers is that, when this war happened, it was against the Code of War to kill commanding officers. This basically meant that officers thought themselves invincible, until Martin killed them all. It was basically telling the British that the Martins didn’t care what the Code of War was. The Martin’s were reunited after this tiny battle and Benjamin received the nickname “The Ghost” because of the way he killed all of the men. Benjamin then decided to start up his own Militia (somewhat) under the (Colonial) Continental Army. Gabriel becomes a soldier under Benjamin and together they fight the British. Benjamin leads his army like a typical militia, except for a few things. One of the French Ambassadors tags along with Martin during this age long journey and the French Ambassador teaches the militia how to march and fire like a traditional army would. Martin, less angered now, makes sure that the army follows the Code of War. There is one occasion where Martin has to go talk to British General Lord Charles Cornwallis.

The meeting is very civilized and they talk about, for example, the killing of officers and how it is very rude to the British army. After Martin basically says “We will start valuing the life of your officers when you stop killing innocent women and children,” he leaves and the War continues on like usual. After about two years, Gabriel gets married, Gabriel then is killed by Tavington, hundreds of civilians are killed by Tavington, Martin’s army is falling apart, and then the final battle to end the War happens. The armies meet each other at an undesignated location; however, the movie drew from the Battle of Cowpens and Yorktown! Martin and Tavington have a huge fight scene to help with the dramatic aspect of the movie, the American Flag is pushed farther and farther into the battle zone and finally - Finally - America has won. Cornwallis ordered a retreat and backed all the way up… the French navy! The British surrender, which leads to many, many, many more victories for the Colonists. America finally has won its Independence.

The historical evidence shows that the British were constantly controlling the Colonists and finding new ways to make the Colonists miserably outmatched if there was ever a war between the two. The intended audience for this film and its thesis is the present day general American public. This film came from the point of view of a standard regular American family in order to show what it was like for the general American public during the Revolutionary War. One area that was really critical to the film’s overall success and accuracy was the Prisoner negotiation - 1hr 29min into the movie. Cornwallis and Martin sat down, peacefully, together and talked like gentlemen and discussed the release of both parties’ men. Cornwallis specifically addressed Martin on the issue of killing British officers. This was significant because when the Revolutionary War happened, it was against the Code of War to kill commanding officers so Cornwallis was more surprised than anything else.

Another area of this film that was historically accurate was the Militia discussion - 2:15 on the left side. During the final battle, Martin was discussing strategies with some officials during the pre-war planning sessions and all of the Continental Army officials were complaining about how the militias were not reliable. Martin had to change the mind of several officials in order to achieve the plan that he wanted. This is historically accurate because the Continental Army did not like the militias. Militias were normally very unreliable and did not fight well during battle.

Another area of this film that were excellent was the comments about killing officers! Benjamin Martin specifically tells his two younger boys after Thomas’s death to “kill the officers first and work your way down from there.” Once they find the unit they were looking for, the two sons and Benjamin kill all of the soldiers and officers alike. The significance of the order to kill the officers is that, when this war happened, it was against the Code of War to kill commanding officers. This basically meant that officers thought themselves invincible, until Martin killed them all. It was basically telling the British that the Martins didn’t care what the Code of War was. The Patriot was an overall amazingly historically accurate movie. There were a few things in the movie (i.e, Tavington and Martin’s rivally) that were unrealistic in some ways; however, there were many things that the film got right. For example, the uniforms of the soldiers, generals, officers, etc. were all exactly right. The marching patterns and battle strategies were all accurate as far as updated research shows. When it came down to the dramatics of the movie, such as the aforementioned rivally, some things were put in just to show the life of Benjamin Martin.

The Patriot is an amazing film done by amazing actors and directors. Everyone involved in this film paid special attention to every single detail in this film. The film is historically accurate, emotionally carrying, and insightful all in the same three hours. The film shows how the British have abused, cheated, and controlled the Colonists for far too long. Every second of this movie is worth watching.