EVALUATION ESSAY: BRAVEHEART
The movie Braveheart is a tale of love, freedom, and the desire for freedom. Mel Gibson stars as William Wallace, leader of militia-type rebel forces in Scotland in the early fourteenth century. Gibson both directs and acts in the film, showing incredible talent and skill. Gibson directs a wonderful piece of film with Braveheart, and his acting is equally as impressive. He uncannily captures a character that was never even photographed, let alone profiled. Gibson’s talent as a filmmaker, combined with a brilliant supporting cast make this a wonderful film (IMDb).
The movie begins with Wallace as a young boy, learning how to fight from both his father, a warrior, and from his friend Hamish, played by Brendan Gleeson. Towards the end of the childhood portion of the film, Wallace’s father and older brother are killed in battle, cementing in Wallace his destiny of becoming a fighter. After the scene where Wallace sees his slain brother and father, the movie jumps forward in time to when Wallace is around 25. By this time, Wallace has a love interest, but due to a recent English law about brides on their wedding nights, the two are afraid to wed, and do so in private. Then, one day while Wallace’s clandestine wife is walking through a market, she is jumped by some English guards and they try to rape her but she bites the man and is then executed at the hands of the English lord who presided over the village. After learning of his wife’s murder, Wallace and a number of other rebels decide to storm the English fort in the village. They are successful, and Wallace kills the lord who had his wife killed (Wikipedia).
With a new, vengeful agenda, Wallace then embarks on a mission to rally support for the rebel cause, and to sack as many English strongholds as he can. Later, there is a battle between the organized Scottish army and the English army. Wallace and his men join the fight and together they achieve victory. After the battle, Wallace is declared the “guardian and high protector of Scotland” by the Scottish nobles and is also knighted.
After this successful battle, Wallace’s confidence and the confidence of his men is at an all-time high, and King Edward Longshanks, worried enough by the threat of the rebellion, poses to send the French princess Isabelle, played by Sophie Marceau, to try and negotiate peace with Wallace. Princess Isabelle is the wife of Prince Edward portrayed by Peter Hanly, the Prince of Wales and Longshanks' oldest son. The King sends her because his son is a weak-willed man and would not be imposing enough to negotiate, but she is a strong leader. Longshanks also knows that if Wallace kills her, the French king will declare war on Wallace in revenge. Wallace rejects the offer of a title, an estate and a chest of gold that Longshanks has told Isabelle to offer and continues with the fighting. However, during their conversation, Isabelle tells Wallace that she understands his suffering and that she has heard about the death of his wife. They share a moment of understanding and she becomes charmed by him. For Wallace to continue fighting, he needs the Scottish nobility on his side, contributing troops and food. But Wallace has problems convincing the nobility that they have a real chance to take back the country from the English. The nobles think that the Scots will lose and the English will treat them even worse than they are treated now. Also, the nobles are getting money from England and live quite well. Some of them are more concerned that this money continues to come and that their standard of living continues to be the best instead of looking after their people (IMDb).
Two Scottish nobles, Lochlan and Mornay, planning to submit to Longshanks, betray Wallace at the bloody Battle of Falkirk the following year as a new and larger English army, led by King Edward Longshanks himself, invades Scotland to crush the Scots rebellion once and for all. The Scots lose the battle due to Longshanks clever use of his long-bowmen and his massive reserves which outnumber the Scots. Wallace nearly loses his life when, in a last desperate act, he furiously breaks ranks and charges toward Longshanks to kill him personally. He is intercepted by one of the king's hooded lancers and knocked from his horse, but gains the upper hand when the lancer dismounts to examine the fallen Wallace. Wallace is set to kill the lancer, but upon taking the lancer's helmet off, discovered his opponent is Robert the Bruce. Bruce is able to get Wallace to safety just before the English can capture him, but laments his actions for some time to come because of what Wallace has stood for, which he betrayed.
Over the next seven years, Wallace goes into hiding and wages a protracted guerrilla war against the English. In order to repay Mornay and Lochlan for their betrayals, Wallace brutally murders both men: Mornay by crushing his skull with a flail in his bed chamber and Lochlan by slitting his throat during a meeting of the nobles at Edinburgh and dumping his body on their banquet table. Eventually, Wallace decides to invade England and defeat the English on their own soil. However, he ends up being captured. He is then tortured and executed publicly (Wikipedia). Then, in the last scene, an army led by Robert the Bruce is on a field with an English army and Robert the Bruce is about to accept his crown as King of Scotland, but instead has his men charge and they win the battle and therefore their freedom.
This movie was very good. The story was complex, but very well executed. Braveheart also won multiple academy awards at the 1995 Oscars. I thought Gibson did a very fine job in telling a loosely fact-based story in a way that seemed almost fantastic at times, with everything except the dragons.
The movie begins with Wallace as a young boy, learning how to fight from both his father, a warrior, and from his friend Hamish, played by Brendan Gleeson. Towards the end of the childhood portion of the film, Wallace’s father and older brother are killed in battle, cementing in Wallace his destiny of becoming a fighter. After the scene where Wallace sees his slain brother and father, the movie jumps forward in time to when Wallace is around 25. By this time, Wallace has a love interest, but due to a recent English law about brides on their wedding nights, the two are afraid to wed, and do so in private. Then, one day while Wallace’s clandestine wife is walking through a market, she is jumped by some English guards and they try to rape her but she bites the man and is then executed at the hands of the English lord who presided over the village. After learning of his wife’s murder, Wallace and a number of other rebels decide to storm the English fort in the village. They are successful, and Wallace kills the lord who had his wife killed (Wikipedia).
With a new, vengeful agenda, Wallace then embarks on a mission to rally support for the rebel cause, and to sack as many English strongholds as he can. Later, there is a battle between the organized Scottish army and the English army. Wallace and his men join the fight and together they achieve victory. After the battle, Wallace is declared the “guardian and high protector of Scotland” by the Scottish nobles and is also knighted.
After this successful battle, Wallace’s confidence and the confidence of his men is at an all-time high, and King Edward Longshanks, worried enough by the threat of the rebellion, poses to send the French princess Isabelle, played by Sophie Marceau, to try and negotiate peace with Wallace. Princess Isabelle is the wife of Prince Edward portrayed by Peter Hanly, the Prince of Wales and Longshanks' oldest son. The King sends her because his son is a weak-willed man and would not be imposing enough to negotiate, but she is a strong leader. Longshanks also knows that if Wallace kills her, the French king will declare war on Wallace in revenge. Wallace rejects the offer of a title, an estate and a chest of gold that Longshanks has told Isabelle to offer and continues with the fighting. However, during their conversation, Isabelle tells Wallace that she understands his suffering and that she has heard about the death of his wife. They share a moment of understanding and she becomes charmed by him. For Wallace to continue fighting, he needs the Scottish nobility on his side, contributing troops and food. But Wallace has problems convincing the nobility that they have a real chance to take back the country from the English. The nobles think that the Scots will lose and the English will treat them even worse than they are treated now. Also, the nobles are getting money from England and live quite well. Some of them are more concerned that this money continues to come and that their standard of living continues to be the best instead of looking after their people (IMDb).
Two Scottish nobles, Lochlan and Mornay, planning to submit to Longshanks, betray Wallace at the bloody Battle of Falkirk the following year as a new and larger English army, led by King Edward Longshanks himself, invades Scotland to crush the Scots rebellion once and for all. The Scots lose the battle due to Longshanks clever use of his long-bowmen and his massive reserves which outnumber the Scots. Wallace nearly loses his life when, in a last desperate act, he furiously breaks ranks and charges toward Longshanks to kill him personally. He is intercepted by one of the king's hooded lancers and knocked from his horse, but gains the upper hand when the lancer dismounts to examine the fallen Wallace. Wallace is set to kill the lancer, but upon taking the lancer's helmet off, discovered his opponent is Robert the Bruce. Bruce is able to get Wallace to safety just before the English can capture him, but laments his actions for some time to come because of what Wallace has stood for, which he betrayed.
Over the next seven years, Wallace goes into hiding and wages a protracted guerrilla war against the English. In order to repay Mornay and Lochlan for their betrayals, Wallace brutally murders both men: Mornay by crushing his skull with a flail in his bed chamber and Lochlan by slitting his throat during a meeting of the nobles at Edinburgh and dumping his body on their banquet table. Eventually, Wallace decides to invade England and defeat the English on their own soil. However, he ends up being captured. He is then tortured and executed publicly (Wikipedia). Then, in the last scene, an army led by Robert the Bruce is on a field with an English army and Robert the Bruce is about to accept his crown as King of Scotland, but instead has his men charge and they win the battle and therefore their freedom.
This movie was very good. The story was complex, but very well executed. Braveheart also won multiple academy awards at the 1995 Oscars. I thought Gibson did a very fine job in telling a loosely fact-based story in a way that seemed almost fantastic at times, with everything except the dragons.