The story takes place during the American Revolution. Benjamin Martin, a father of seven children, struggles to convince his older son Gabriel to not go to war. Gabriel ignores his father's wishes and insists on fighting for his cause. When a British commander named William Tavington shoots Benjamin's son Thomas, he decides to fight in the militia along side of Gabriel.
The acting in this movie was great. Mel Gibson portrayed the vengeful father very well, and Heath Ledger was great at playing a "true American soldier." Jason Isaacs's acting was especially good. He played the part of the villain so well and was able to make the audience hate his character.
If you watch the movie purely for entertainment, the story is pretty good. There's romance, action, and a satisfying resolution. If you're watching it to get a feel for the history of the Revolutionary War, however, you will be very disappointed. There is practically no truth in the events that take place in the movie. The brutality demonstrated by Tavington is over-exaggerated extremely. At one point in the film the British soldiers burn down a church. This never happened during the Revolutionary War. Many times during the film Tavington and his soldiers disobey the rules of war, which is also a very inaccurate portrayal of the British. Though I did enjoy the story of "The Patriot," I could've done without the extreme historical inaccuracies.
The lesson to learn from this movie is that war affects everyone in some way or another. This is still true today. People lose children, siblings, and parents to war. The moral, though, is that sometimes war is necessary and it is something we must live with.
I'd recommend this movie to mature teenagers and adults. Historians would probably not enjoy "The Patriot," but people who like war-themed movies and violence would. I would not recommend this movie to younger children who haven't learned about the Revolutionary War yet because they might think the events in this movie are factual, when they are actually far from it. The MPAA rating of this movie is R because of the amount of violence, but that is to be expected of a movie about war. Personally, I thought the movie was pretty good. I didn't go in expecting to learn about the American Revolution because it is a movie, not a documentary. "The Patriot" is a good movie if you take it for what it is.
I give the movie 3 out of 5 stars.
Chrissy Brown is a senior in high school. She enjoys playing multiple musical instruments, and has been in AP classes for her entire high-school career.
