The film. The Patriot. is the narrative of a South Carolina plantation proprietor. Benjamin Martin. who leads a local reserves against British military personnels in the South during the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Martin. who is a widowman with six kids and a veteran of the Gallic and Indian War. wants nil to make with the war until a barbarous British Colonel. William Tavington. kills one of his boies and takes his eldest boy. a member of the Continental Army. captive. Martin. who’s character is slackly based on Francis Marion. the Swamp Fox. uses guerilla warfare to cut British supply lines and onslaught outstations in an effort to decelerate General Charles Corwallis from fall ining British forces in the North. While the primary intent of the film is to entertain. it does largely follow historical events of the early old ages of the Revolutionary War. However. legion inside informations within the film were changed to better the play and action. These were most noteworthy in some ways they depicted colonial society and inside informations environing the war itself. First. the film was non accurate in how it depicted bondage in South Carolina.
Benjamin Martin was a little plantation proprietor and the film showed him holding a group of free black workers. If this was true. he would hold likely been the lone 1 in South Carolina. Second. there were few slaves shown on either side of the conflicts when both sides used slaves as soldiers. One soldier in Martin’s reserves said he was offered five schillings a month and freedom after 12 months of service by George Washington. While Washington did see an inducement for black soldiers. none was every offered ( commendation ) . Indians were besides left out of the film wholly when Indians fought on both sides peculiarly with the British. Finally. the film has Martin and his household traveling into a privy black settlement for protection. When they arrive. they are met with unfastened weaponries. While there were settlements of free black work forces and adult females at the clip. the likeliness of them welcoming a group of white plantation proprietors is improbable.
Another social inaccuracy in the film was how they changed the duologue to be more entertaining. In some of the scenes. the characters speak in the King’s English. which would hold been common during the period. However. a missive written from Martin’s oldest boy to his girlfriend is quite colloquial and informal. Possibly the manager thought the emotion in the missive might non be as strong written more officially. Last. the film has a scene where a immature adult female stands up in church to castigate the work forces for non back uping the cause for freedom. Womans were of import members of most colonial churches and some were even allowed to talk from the dais ( commendation ) . However. such a immature adult females would non likely be allowed to turn to the fold and surely non permitted to talk down to its male members. The manager made legion alterations to inside informations sing the war to do the film more gratifying to watch.
During a 1775 town hall meeting. Martin said. “Massachusetts and Virginia are at war. but non South Carolina. ” In fact. Massachusetts was at war with the British. but Virginia didn’t fall in the struggle until 1777 ( commendation ) . Battle scenes in the film show a big contingent of the Continental Army in formal uniforms. However. few members would hold had the formal uniform and most would hold been dressed in reserves uniforms ( commendation ) . The conflict flags in the film besides were non wholly accurate. A few of the conflicts show province reserves flags which were appropriate. but one flag shown was non even created until old ages subsequently. Martin’s boy is shown repairing a flag he saved from a battleground. which Martin uses in the concluding conflict scene to beat up the military personnels. The flag shown is the Betty Ross flag with 13 stars in a circle. This flag was non created until 1779 ( commendation ) . Another thing inaccurately added to the conflict scenes was detonating weaponries.
These added to the action on the screen. but Lieutenant NameShrapnel would non contrive detonating cannon balls until day of the month ( commendation ) . The film besides added some play to how barbarous the British military personnels were to the rebel’s households. While it is recorded that Rebels did lose their places as a monetary value for being unpatriotic. it was more frequently done by stalwarts within the settlements and non the British ( commendation ) . The scene that was most sensationalized was the combustion of the church with the fold locked indoors. Had this truly occurred during the Revolutionary War. it would be in every history book and would hold become a conflict call similar to “Remember the Alamo! ” The absence of stalwart in South Carolina and in the British ground forces is besides an inadvertence.
While the film does demo one officer. who is a native South Carolinian. the province was known to be reasonably split between Rebels and stalwarts. Surely there would hold been more than one local individual among the British military personnels. Despite being about three hours long. I thought The Patriot was highly entertaining. I didn’t happen the historical inaccuracies deflecting at all and likely wouldn’t have considered them had I non taken this category. Two things that the film brought to my attending were the figure of Gallic and Indian War veterans on both sides of the struggle and how near the conflicts were fought to people’s places. The scene where Benjamin Martin puts his kids to bed and so goes to the forepart porch to watch a conflict unfold in a nearby field was peculiarly traveling. Overall. I think The Patriot is a nice historical novel.
