The Patriot
A promotional film poster for The Patriot.
Directed by	Roland Emmerich
Written by	Robert Rodat
Starring	Mel Gibson Heath Ledger Joely Richardson Jason Isaacs Chris Cooper Tom Wilkinson
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Editing by	David Brenner
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 28, 2000
Running time	158 min .
Language	English
Budget	$110,000,000 USD (estimated)

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.

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 after two years wounded as he is carrying dispatches between commanders. That night, a skirmish between the British and the patriots wakes the Martins and they give care to the wounded of both sides the next morning. British soldiers approach the house, proceed to kill the Colonial wounded, burn down the house and take Gabriel into custody as a spy, intending to hang him. 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 horrified. 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.

Father and son come to the conclusion that the Colonials cannot hope to beat the British in set piece battles; the British are too well armed. It is obvious that the British forces were too well trained and far outnumbered the Colonial Army. Instead, They rally a militia, including French Officer Jean Villeneuve (Tchéky Karyo), from among the men of South Carolina and proceed to harry the British supply lines (including the capture of Lord Cornwallis' personal effects and prize hounds and the destruction of a supply ship in front of a ball at Middleton Place for the British officers). To combat the militia, Cornwallis authorizes Tavington to pursue more brutal tactics to draw Martin out. Tavington tracks Martin's family to their refuge with their aunt (Martin's sister in law, by his deceased wife) and burns down her plantation. However, the family escapes, and are led to a safe haven by Gabriel and Martin. 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, many men on both sides are killed, leaving Gabriel and the Reverend to face off against Tavington. A few others escape with major wounds. The Reverend is shot, but throws his loaded musket to Gabriel, who shoots Tavington, who promtply falls to the ground. However, as Gabriel approaches Tavington's body, he quickly turns around and stabs him with his sword. As Tavington escapes, Benjamin approaches the scene in time to find Gabriel dying on the ground.

In the final battle, Col. Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper) and Villeneuve help Benjamin defeat the British, by using the Milita (who are held in low regard by the British officers) as a feint. Tavington. 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 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

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• 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.
• Benjamin Martin is loosely based on Francis Marion, who was known as the "Swamp Fox." He lead a miltia of seventy men and harrased the British trade routes in South Carolina.
• 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".^{[citation needed]}
• 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.

Resources

1. "The Patriot: The Official Companion" by Suzanne Fritz Rachel Aberly
2. "The Patriot: A Novel" by Stephen Molstad

External links

• The Patriot at the Internet Movie Database
• The Patriot at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Patriot Resource

Donate to Wikimedia