Braveheart – Review

“There’s a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it.” – William Wallace

Please play the music as you read the review…

From the opening scene where the camera soars over the beautiful mountains and plains of Scotland, Braveheart transported me to a place and time I will never forget. A time and place when nature and man were so wonderfully intertwined with one another. The peaceful and soothing sounds of the bagpipes and other wind instruments instilled a feeling of tenderness and brotherhood among the Scottish people.

Very quickly however, I was met with the reality of how dark and grim times had become under the rule of Lord Longshanks (King Edward I). A scene in which Longshanks betrays a truce with the Scottish nobles, sets the tone for the rest of the revolt and William Wallace’s life (Mel Gibson). I was blown away at the thought of this young boy, William, losing his father and brother, the only ones he had left, and moving on with his life with the help of his uncle Argyle. I admired William and the many others of his time like him who were able to lose all at such a young age and still become something great.

One of my favorite lessons the movies teaches is that wits are more important than purely strength. When most people look back on the Scots, they think of unintelligent savages who only concerned themselves with learning how to swing and throw a sword or ax. As the revolt continues throughout the film, William Wallace shows that he is more than just a man who can fight, but a man with deep convictions and beliefs about what he wants and is uncompromising in those beliefs, even if it means death is possible. He detests the fact that the Scottish nobles sit around and talk about deals and propositions in order to survive, but make no plans to “live” and become free of the tyranny of England. Robert the Bruce is torn between making the choice to follow this courageous commoner, but his Father, the “King” of Scotland tells him that compromising with the English is their only way to survive and maintain the titles and land they have obtained. “You admire this man, this William Wallace. Uncompromising men are easy to admire. He has courage; so does a dog. But it is exactly the ability to *compromise* that makes a man noble.” Robert personifies the struggle within us all to decide whether compromising is the right choice or not. Is courageously charging into battle to win freedom, but possibly die and lose it all more “noble” than keeping what they have and living another day.

The warfare in this movie was spectacular. Dismembered limbs, crushed skulls, decapitated heads… it has all the awesome violence you’d want in a war film. It also shows moments of invention and strategy – the extra long spears to kill the horses of the English army and the fake retreat of all the horse riding Scots who returned to slaughter the remaining English soldiers.

SPOILER!

Near the end of the film, right before William is captured by the English after a betrayal on the a noble’s part, he has a short conversation with Hamish, comrade and friend:

Hamish: I don’t want to be a martyr.

William: Nor I. I want to live. I want a home, and children, and peace.

Hamish: Do ya?

William: Ay, I do. I’ve asked God for these things. It’s all for nothing if you don’t have freedom.

Hamish: That’s all a dream, William.

William: A dream? Just a dream? What we’ve been doing all this time; we’ve lived that dream.

In the final scene for William when he undergoes “purification”, he shows how deeply and truly he wanted to achieve his dream. He was willing to die in order to bring true freedom to his home and would not sacrifice those convictions and beliefs in his dying, aching breath. Instead, he used his last bit of energy to proclaim what he so deeply desired:

The story of William Wallace is a beautiful and true one. It is of a man who could no longer stand to be enslaved and appeased by titles, gold, and plots of land in order to look over the injustice that had devoured his once proud nation. Though his dream was never fully realized while he lived, his cry for freedom rang for centuries to come.

Every man dies, not every man lives.