Historical Movie Review: The Patriot Essay

The motion picture, The nationalist, is the story of a South Carolina woodlet owner, Benjamin Martin, who leads a local anaesthetic militia against British troops in the South during the beginning of the American subverter War. Martin, who is a widower with six children and a veteran of the french and Indian War, wants nonhing to do with the war until a brutal British Colonel, William Tavington, kills one of his tidingss and takes his eldest son, a member of the Continental Army, prisoner. Martin, whos share is loosely based on Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, uses guerrilla warfare to newspaper clipping British supply lines and attack outposts in an attempt to slow frequent Charles Corwallis from joining British forces in the North. enchantment the primary purpose of the cinema is to entertain, it does mostly follow historical nonethelessingts of the early years of the Revolutionary War. However, legion(predicate) expand within the movie were changed to improve the drama and action. These were most leading light in some ways they envisioned colonial society and details surrounding the war itself. First, the movie was not accurate in how it depicted slavery in South Carolina.Benjamin Martin was a small plantation owner and the movie introduceed him having a group of free color workers. If this was true, he would have probably been the only one in South Carolina. Second, in that location were few slaves shown on either side of the battles when both sides used slaves as soldiers. One soldier in Martins militia said he was offered five schillings a month and freedom after 12 months of assist by George Washington. While Washington did consider an incentive for sullen soldiers, none was every offered (citation). Indians were excessively left out of the movie altogether when Indians fought on both sides particularly with the British. Finally, the movie has Martin and his family going into a secluded black colony for protection. When they arrive, t hey are met with open arms. While in that respect were colonies of free black men and women at the time, the likelihood of them welcoming a group of snowy plantation owners is un apt(predicate).Another societal inaccuracy in the movie was how they changed the dialogue to be more entertaining. In some of the scenes, the characters speak in the Kings English, which would have been common during the period. However, a letter written from Martins oldest son to his girlfriend is quite conversational and informal. Perhaps the director thought the emotion in the letter might not be as untroubled written more formally. Lastly, the movie has a scene where a adolescent woman stands up in church to chastise the men for not supporting the cause for freedom. Women were important members of most colonial churches and some were even allowed to speak from the pulpit (citation). However, such a young women would not likely be allowed to address the congregation and certainly not permitted to sp eak mastered to its male members. The director made numerous changes to details regarding the war to make the movie more enjoyable to watch.During a 1775 town hall meeting, Martin said, mama and Virginia are at war, only if not South Carolina. In fact, mamma was at war with the British, but Virginia didnt join the conflict until 1777 (citation). bout scenes in the movie show a large contingent of the Continental Army in formal uniforms. However, few members would have had the formal uniform and most would have been dressed in militia uniforms (citation). The battle flags in the movie also were not entirely accurate. A few of the battles show evoke militia flags which were appropriate, but one flag shown was not even created until years later. Martins son is shown mending a flag he saved from a battlefield, which Martin uses in the final battle scene to loosen the troops. The flag shown is the Betty Ross flag with thirteen stars in a circle. This flag was not created until 1 779 (citation). Another thing inaccurately added to the battle scenes was exploding munitions.These added to the action on the screen, but Lieutenant NameShrapnel would not invent exploding cannon balls until date (citation). The movie also added some drama to how brutal the British troops were to the rebels families. While it is recorded that rebels did lose their homes as a price for be disloyal, it was more often done by loyalists within the colonies and not the British (citation). The scene that was most sensationalized was the burning of the church with the congregation locked inside. Had this really occurred during the Revolutionary War, it would be in every history book and would have hold up a battle cry similar to Remember the Alamo The absence of loyalist in South Carolina and in the British army is also an oversight.While the movie does show one officer, who is a native South Carolinian, the state was known to be fairly split between rebels and loyalists. Surely there w ould have been more than one local person among the British troops. disrespect being almost three hours long, I thought The Patriot was passing entertaining. I didnt find the historical inaccuracies distracting at all and probably wouldnt have considered them had I not taken this class. Two things that the movie brought to my attention were the number of French and Indian War veterans on both sides of the conflict and how close the battles were fought to peoples homes. The scene where Benjamin Martin puts his children to whap and then goes to the front porch to watch a battle unfold in a nearby field was particularly moving. Overall, I think The Patriot is a decent historical novel.