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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 Tchéky Karyo 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 .
Country	United States Germany[1]
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.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Controversy 3 Soundtrack 4 Trivia 5 References 6 Resources 7 External links

It is the late 18th century, in South Carolina. Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) is a veteran of the French and Indian War and a widower raising seven of his 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. He returns home after two years, stumbling wounded into the family home, 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 15-year-old (and second) son Thomas (Gregory Smith) is killed trying to free Gabriel as he is taken prisoner, shot by the cold-hearted leader of the Green Dragoons, Col. William Tavington (Jason Isaacs) even though the boy poses no real threat. (The Dragoons are a small, elite force of British soldiers.)

An enraged Martin sets about to free his son Gabriel, with the help of his two younger sons Nathan and Samuel (played by Trevor Morgan and Bryan Chafin). The three of them slaughter, in brutal fashion, the British troops holding Gabriel. While their brother is freed, the boys are all horrified -- particularly Samuel -- at their first glimpse of their kindly father ripping men to shreds with his tomahawks. Gabriel re-joins the cause against his father's will again stating it is his duty as a soldier. Martin decides to join the fight later when he catches up with his son and they report together, leaving the rest of the children in the care of their aunt Charlotte (Joely Richardson), the sister of Martin's deceased wife.

Father and son come to the conclusion that the Colonials cannot hope to beat the British in set piece battles; the British are too numerous and well armed. 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 Charlotte 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 furlough. Soon after the marriage, returning home, Anne and her family, along with all the townspeople, are burned alive whilst locked in the church. The orders for this horrific act came from Tavington.

After a furious Gabriel discovers what has happened, he and a small group of men ride to engage the Dragoons. 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 militia (who are held in low regard by the British officers) as a feint.

Soon Martin and Tavington are able to face off, one on one. 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 stabs him with a bayonet-fitted musket, picks up a detached bayonet and replies, "You are right... my sons were better men." Martin impales Tavington in the throat, killing him.

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 that if we won the war, we could build a whole new world. Just figured we'd get started right here, with your home." Benjamin smiles as he replies, "Sounds good", before shaking hands with Occam and walking into the forwards with his family towards their new, free future.

The Patriot generated an unusual amount of public controversy, being widely attacked by critics, historians, and politicians for its brutal depiction of events in the Revolutionary War. Because of the level of violence in the film, including a much-discussed scene showing two children killing a soldier, in the U.S. the film was classified 'R' for strong war violence.^[2] Aversion to the violent content apparently contributed to its being beaten at the box office on its opening holiday weekend by The Perfect Storm.^[3]

Challenging the film's historicity, the Guardian condemned the main inspiration behind Mel Gibson's character, Francis Marion, as ‘a serial rapist who hunted Red Indians for fun’, and quoted historian Christopher Hibbert as saying: ‘The truth is that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the British.’^[4]

Ben Fenton, commenting in the Telegraph on the sadistic character of Colonel William Tavington, purportedly based on Colonel Banastre Tarleton, wrote: ‘there is no evidence that Tarleton, called "Bloody Ban" or "The Butcher" in rebel pamphlets, ever broke the rules of war and certainly not that he ever shot a child in cold blood.’^[5] Liverpool City Council, led by Mayor Edwin Clein, called for a public apology for what they viewed as the film’s ‘character assassination’ of Tarleton, a former local MP.^[6]

Of greatest concern was the film’s anachronistic transposing of Waffen SS atrocities into the Revolutionary War, including the heavy emphasis on the killing of prisoners, wounded and children, culminating in a group of townsfolk being burnt alive in a church, in a scene that closely resembles the massacre of Oradour in German-occupied France in 1944.

In a review article in Salon.com, Jonathan Foreman, film critic for the New York Post, wrote: ‘The most disturbing thing about The Patriot is not just that German director Roland Emmerich (director of the jingoistic Independence Day) and his screenwriter Robert Rodat (who was criticized for excluding British and other Allied soldiers from his script for Saving Private Ryan) depict British troops as committing savage atrocities, but that those atrocities bear such a close resemblance to war crimes carried out by German troops - particularly the SS in World War II. It's hard not to wonder if the filmmakers have some kind of subconscious agenda ... They have made a film that will have the effect of inoculating audiences against the unique historical horror of Oradour - and implicitly rehabilitating the Nazis while making the British seem as evil as history's worst monsters ... So it's no wonder that the British press sees this film as a kind of blood libel against the British people.’^[7]

In a letter to the editor of the Hollywood Reporter the prominent U.S. director Spike Lee also accused the film’s portrayal of slavery as being ‘a complete whitewashing of history.’^[8] Further Inaccuracies include the depiction of the battle of Guildford Courthouse, implying this action was a victory for the Americans the film ignores historical truth. The British actually won at Guildford courthouse showing outstanding resolve in defeating an enemy in a strong defesive position who outnumbered them more than 2-1.

Gibson responded to the charges of historical inaccuracy by saying The Patriot was 'a film with a bias - told from a point of view'.^[9]

• See: The Patriot (soundtrack).

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 militia of seventy men and harassed 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."^[10]Bold text*Col. William Tavington was based on Col. Banastre Tarleton, who was a cavalry commander under general Cornwallis. Unlike Tavington, he survived the war.

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

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