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The Patriot Movie Review
The Movie, The Patriot, was a rousing and vigorous Revolutionary War epic from the view point of a family full of revenge and strong wills. This movie began with the majority of colonists angered. This part of the movie caught my attention and intrigued me to keep watching until the last minute. I especially enjoyed the heartbreaking moments and the realistic war scenes in the movie. Although I liked those aspects of the movie, the storyline was exceptionally good as well. To understand this historical fiction movie, a historical background is needed. If a person does not understand what is meant by “Taxation without representation,” then the subject of conflict will not be understood. The plot of the movie began to develop when Benjamin Martin’s son, Gabriel, was captured by British troops. Benjamin Martin was a former hero of the French and Indian War, but he renounced fighting so that he would be able to raise his family in peace. Attempting to save his brother, Benjamin’s other son stood up to the British soldiers, but was killed in the process. Benjamin, only wanting to save Gabriel, ended up fighting in battle, rescuing Gabriel, and killing the murderer of his other son. After all of this happened Benjamin realized the importance of being involved in the war, so he sent his other children to live with their aunt in order for he and Gabriel to join the army. Once they became part of the army, Benjamin became a general and lead his colonial militia, including Gabriel, into trifling battles. During battle Gabriel was killed, which deeply depressed Benjamin and made him so distraught that he does not feel like fighting anymore. His feelings stayed this way until (while at the camp) he saw the Brit that killed Gabriel. Benjamin then killed that man and understood at that moment why so many men had been dieing. Because of this, Benjamin became extremely patriotic and decided to move on with the Americans because he then had something to fight for. Everything that happened kept me on the edge of my chair wanting to know what was going to happen next. Overall, I thought that this movie was very moving and vigorous.
Although I enjoyed the main portion of the movie, there were some obvious likes and dislikes in my opinion. I believe that I learned from this movie and it helped me understand more of what the people of that time were feeling.
When we hear about the Revolutionary War, one of the most popular phrases to be tied to it is “no taxation without representation,” and was coined from the fact that the colonies were being directly taxed without democratic representation. The fact that the American people did not have representation in Parliament while being taxed was virtually universally disapproved and was an extremely big factor in driving the American people to protect their democratic ideals through war in the years prior to the revolution.
When the colonies were being formed, many colonists came from England to escape the restrictions placed upon them by the crown. Britain had laws for regulating trade and collecting taxes, but they were generally not enforced. The colonists had gotten used to being able to govern themselves. However, Britain sooned changed it’s colonial policy because of the piling debt due to four wars the British got into with the French and the Spanish. The most notable of these, the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War), had immediate effects on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, leading to the concept of no taxation without representation becoming the motivating force for the American revolutionary movement and a great symbol for democracy amongst the colonies, as Britain tried to tighten their hold on the colonies through various acts and measures.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers to the United States, was not a patriot but a mere loyalist to England before the dissolution between England and the colonies occurred. Sheila L. Skemp's The Making of a Patriot explores how Benjamin Franklin tried to stay loyal to the crown while taking interest in the colonies perception and their own representation in Parliament. While Ms. Skemp alludes to Franklin's loyalty, her main illustration is how the attack by Alexander Wedderburn during the Privy Council led to Franklin's disillusionment with the British crown and the greater interest in making the Thirteen Colonies their own nation. Her analysis of Franklin's history in Parliament and what occurred on the night that the council convened proves the change behind Franklin's beliefs and what lead to his involvement in the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
Colonialists were in search of a better life in the newly discovered land of the Americas. Ties with their mother-country of Britannia, over three thousand miles away, resulted in miscommunication and arguments. Eventually these arguments and miscommunications lead to the Revolutionary War, provoking many American Colonists to join the Continental Army. Each soldier from the militia to the regular recruits had reasons to fight; many of these reasons were influenced by the first Age of Enlightenment and other reasons were formed by personal experiences with the conflicts of Britannia and the American Colonies. The movie, The Patriot, presented many reasons that are supported by major historical documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, and that also are backed by personal testimonies of the American Colonists who joined the Continental Army.
During the mid 1700’s the new found America was struggling for independence from the British. This undetermined notion whether or not to declare war led to the Virginia Convention where, Governor Patrick Henry enforced our nation to engage in war. “Patrick Henry’s Speech in the Virginia Convention” emphasizes the importance of fighting for independence for the American nation, because we shouldn't be treated like slaves of the British. He persuades them to join the war effort enforcing a sense of patriotism to the members by using the rhetorical appeals of parallelism and repetition.
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist’s anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, “The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000”1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny Tremain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood “spices” was added to the movie for viewing pleasures.
If the soldiers who fought in the American Revolution were alive today to see what our nation has accomplished, they would cry tears of joy. These people defined their freedom as having an independent country where everyone would reunite and live under a set of laws where they all have equal rights. The novel, 1776, emphasizes the emotions that Americans had when the Declaration of Independence was signed through the following lines, “The year 1776, celebrated as the birth of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all-too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear, as they would never for...
Entering the American Revolutionary War, the colonists possessed a keen desire and aspiration to have and keep their freedom. With determination, the chaotic army of America strived toward victory. The British had the powers of money, numbers, and experience, but sometimes the seemingly potent advantages have little effect on the determination of free will.
The conflict between Benjamin Franklin and his only living son is a microcosm of the little-understood clash between those Americans who strived for independence from British occupation and those that felt the country was either not or never would be ready for self-governance. Benjamin Franklin felt strongly enough about his son’s actions to label them betrayal; William Franklin felt strongly enough about the foolhardiness of the Revolution to suffer his father’s wrath. The actions of the loyalists are understood by Americans to constitute treason, but this is a simplification. Many loyalists felt that r...
...he Revolutionary War should be deemed just as important as the war itself. The repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765 with the mob action towards Andrew Oliver and Thomas Hutchinson, the Boston Massacre propaganda of 1770, and the resistance movement of the Boston Tea Party were all events that inspired radical views and revolutionary change. These events were backed and played through by the use of mobs especially like men of the Sons of Liberty. In the end, these men weren’t just “a rabble of boys”, “disorderly sailors”, or “miscreants” nor just a motley crew who was purely destructive and mindless. Rather they were men who acted for the betterment and survival of a people; patriots. These mobs help drive the resistance of the British from idea to movement toward greater change. In other words, these men steered America toward resistance and finally toward revolution.
“Give me liberty or give me death!” This statement from Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” delivered to the House of Burgesses, has been quoted by many, becoming almost cliché. However, the declaration is truly understood by a select few. The unjust Stamp Act passed by the British crown in 1765, brought fame and notoriety to Henry as he spoke out against the unjust taxation without representation. Ten years later on the eve of revolution, Henry calls upon the Colonial government of which he is part, to act for the betterment of the people. Patrick Henry attempts to persuade the House of Burgesses to revolt and declare war against Britain by logically convincing them that it is their natural right to be free and calling on their patriotism and pride as leaders of colonial America.
The first thing about this film that caught my eye from a sociological perspective is that the society in the film is not depicted as a “perfect society” as most films do, instead it shows the real conflicts that society had back then with certain subjects. The film shows us the prejudices, and misconceptions that people had about things like sex, and homosexuality at the time.
First, the Revolutionary War was the first instance of Americans preserving their freedoms. We were unhappy about how the British were treating us so we fought back. One issue was taxation without representation. Some people are still unhappy about how they are being treated by the government so they fight back, like the colonists. For example, Colin Kaepernick was unhappy
Any historical event with-world changing consequences will always have two sides to the story. What most Americans refer to today as the American Revolution is no different. As Americans, most of us view eighteenth-century England as a tyrannical power across the ocean, and see men like George Washington as heroes who fought against the oppressor. If history and wars were that simple, everyone would understand them, and the need for wars would be diminished. The truth is, England was not the least bit tyrannical to the colonies. Actually, the rebels had no idea, nor any intention of establishing a new and separate government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." They only meant to make a statement and attempt to avoid every tax that Parliament could dream up in the process. Across the Atlantic Ocean in England's Parliament, some men such as William Pitt and Edmund Burke understood opposition to taxes by the American colonists. After all, the colonies had been all but ignored by England since they were established in the early part of the seventeenth century up until the Seven Years War (1756 - 1763). Other men such as George Grenville and Charles Townshend did not understand at all the protests against any taxes implemented by Parliament . These men felt that was not only the right of Parliament to demand taxes, but also their duty to raise money for the Crown. Parliament had the power to demand a tax of every British citizen in the empire, and these men had developed their own ideas about how those taxes would be implemented.
was a spectacular film there were some things that I did not enjoy like, the