The Patriot - a Vision into the American Revolution. this essay is an explaination of the 2000 film the patriot it explains the historical accuracies and inaccuracies of the film.

Christopher Columbus in 1492 set sail to find a trade route to India from Europe. Instead, he unknowingly found what people would later name America. Over two hundred years later in the early 17th century the people of Britain made the decision to expand into this New World. Their colonies started out as small and neglected, but were soon to become a major part of the historical scene. The colonies felt that they were being unjustly mistreated by their mother country and so they determinedly set out to disconnect themselves from it, either through peaceful negotiations or all out war.

The Patriot is a moving tale of one man fighting for his country. It is set during the time of the American Revolution in South Carolina, where Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) lives with his family of 7 children. The locals are preparing for an expected British attack on their area and everyone is getting riled up about it.

Chris Martin

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin L...

Photo of Mel Gibson at the premiere of Air America...

Martin initially takes a pacifistic view. He remains passively against the revolution because of his experience with war in the French and Indian wars. However, Martin's oldest son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) gets sucked into the patriotic frenzy and joins the war effort. Gabriel is taken prisoner when the British commander Tavington (Jason Isaac) kills another of martin's children and imprisons Gabriel. At this point Martin joins the war not because of sheer patriotism like his son, but to take revenge on Tavington.

This film was released in the summer of 2000, right around the 4th of July Celebration. The filmmakers, Ronald Emmerich, Marc Gordon and Dean Devlin, wanted a summer blockbuster so they made their target audience the patriotic crowd around our national holiday. They wanted an action-packed film about independence, freedom and family. What they got was...