January 3, 2006
Roland Emmrich
"The Patriot"
Dear Roland Emmrich,
I really enjoyed this movie. It was great. Everything about it was spectacular. The plot was great. I liked all of the battle scenes. I liked the scene where Ben Martin and his sons were running through the forest fighting, and shooting. I really liked when Ben and his two kids fought the British unit to rescue Gabriel. All of the acting was right on target; Mel Gibson did an outstanding job. The special effects were really cool to, I like all of the gun fighting and gore. I also enjoyed all of the fire scenes. The movie in general was an all around perfect film.
"The Patriot" is fiction, only one character, General Cornwallis really existed. The story fits in well with the time frame and events of the American Revolution, with the following exceptions:
1) The violence of the British is, 'juiced up' for dramatic effect.
English: "The landing of the British forces in the...
English: North Carolina state historical marker fo...
English: Pencil and grey wash portrait of Charles ...In one scene, the British murder wounded American POWs; later, they order the murder of a colonial soldier. Those war crimes by regular soldiers never or rarely happened. Spies and traitors, like Nathan Hale and Major John Andre, were killed, and uneven militias, related to both sides and Indian proxies surely carried out some terrible violence. But regular troops on both sides almost always observed the war laws that distinctions should be made between the uniformed troops.
In the strangest scene, the people in an entire town are locked in a church which is set on fire. This mimics a big Nazi war crime, when 642 people were killed in the French village Oradour sur Glane in June 1944, but that incident took place in the American Revolution.
2) The movie gives the idea that the conflict was a straight...