Braveheart. Review on BraveHeart Movie

How often it is that a movie comes along which gives rise to a flood of emotions, evokes a sense of unbridled spirit, a sweeping wave of patriotism, a yearning for freedom and a desire to live.

Such is the period drama directed by the undisputable Mel Gibson playing the role of William Wallace, a Scottish folk hero. It is a story set in 13th century Scotland, suffering under the tyrannical rule of an English king Edward Longshanks (Patrick McGoohan). A young William loses his family to their quest for freedom and is taken under the tutelage of a kind uncle, who educates him in wits and war. Having come of age, William returns to his place of birth with a desire to rear a family and live peacefully. Subsequently he marries his childhood sweetheart in secret but she is unfortunately killed by a band of over-zealous English soldiers. This proves to be the turning point in the film and the heart-breaking incident of his wife’s death inspires William Wallace to take up arms against the British army, not so much as to avenge his family’s death than to free his motherland from slavery. As a spark leads to fire, so does William’s courage entreat him to all the patriots in the country and he soon emerges as a formidable leader of men, conquering English garrisons and forts while leaving a pile of dead soldiers in his wake, all in pursuit of his oft repeated cry ‘FREEDOM’. Ably assisting him in his noble cause are his old friend Hamish (Brendan Gleeson) and the funny Irishman Stephen (David O’Hara).

As the story picks up pace, the screen is dominated by beautifully orchestrated battles serving a heady mix of blood and gore. Betrayals, scheming Scottish nobles who desire nothing but their own profit, traitors and back-stabbings, finally come together to culminate in a rather sad way until the redeemed Scottish king Robert the Bruce (Angus McFadyen) leads his subjects to victory. It is widely speculated that Robert the Bruce’s heart is still kept preserved in a lead box in Scotland.

In such representations of old history it is impossible to portray an authentic version of the events, as different sources give for different accounts but Mel Gibson affords some extreme artistic liberties here by incorporating an intriguing drama underway in the courts of England. Longshanks homosexual son is married to a French princess (the very pretty Sophie Marceau) but he is shown so gay that he can’t even kiss his bride on their wedding day. This queerness of her husband combined with the heavy romanticism of Wallace fighting for a dead love, endear Wallace to the princess who helps him on the sly and even goes on to make love to him and bear his child. All this might be a trifle too much to digest for the discerning viewer.

The music score is composed by Homer, of Apollo 13 and Casper (which was released on the same day) fame. Though he is generally accused of ending up doing a rehash of his previous creations, this time he does full justice to the movie by coming up with a very original and unbeatable score, involving careful orchestrations, higher octaves, rolling drums, Celtic tunes and the quintessential pipes of Scotland which add a touch of sadness and uplift the music to a higher realm of listening.

Gibson extracts such sincere performances from his actors while delivering a knock-out performance himself that he really would be hard up in his future ventures against his own benchmark of performance. That he garnered the awards of ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ among 3 other Oscars would come as no surprise to anyone.

Historically it is an important movie because not only does it tell the ancient story of Scottish resurgence but also because it makes one reminisce of the days gone by, a hark back to the totalitarianism of the British monarchy up to the late 20th century on every of its colonies and the hardships that it put them up against. This movie is homage to all the freedom fighters who chose martyrdom over subjugation by a foreigner, a tribute to those who fought and died so that their country could live. As the goddess of fortune favours the brave, blessed is the man who lives his dreams, he is the one we call BRAVE-HEART.