The Patriot (2000)

2.5 out of 4

Starring: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Chris Cooper, Jason Isaacs, Tcheky Karyo, Tom Wilkinson

Director: Roland Emmerich

Time: 164 mins

The Patriot was meant to be this year's big American Independence Day film. With its backdrop of the war against the British in 1776, plus a director who knows a thing or two about July 4 success (Emmerich, who directed the alien invasion mega-blockbuster Independence Day in 1996), the film was obviously primed for a big weekend opening. Not only that, the script was by a proven writer of war pics (Robert Rodat, who was behind Saving Private Ryan), as well as starring box office drawcard Mel Gibson, who himself is no stranger to battle-the-British epics after his Oscar-winning Braveheart in 1995. When the numbers came out, however, The Patriot finished a distant (though still respectable) second to disaster thrill ride The Perfect Storm. Several factors worked against The Patriot, I think, not the least of which was its similarity to Braveheart. No matter how one looks at it, the inclusion of Mel, the numerous large scale staged battles and smaller skirmishes, and the spelt-out brutality of the British are several facets it shares with its mediaeval cousin. There is also the long running time, and an almost patronising attempt to make most of the Americans politically correct human beings while the British are the scum of the earth. Let's face it - most people go to the movies on a holiday weekend for an entertaining escape, not to sit through an almost-3 hour movie that tries to make one feel...let's say..."patriotic". The film is entertaining enough, with plenty of action and character development, but were the British the only ones that brutal in warfare? Americans are certainly proud of their country, but do they need to be manipulated into such patriotic fervour? Hmmm. Food for thought.

When the film begins, Ben Martin (Gibson) is a retired soldier, a hero of the French/Indian war, and a family man, raising his seven children on his plantation in South Carolina. The Americans are at war with Mother Britain over the issue of high taxes. While military commanders like Colonel Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper) are enlisting more men to join the fight, pacifist Ben advocates more diplomatic solutions. His eldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), an idealistic and passionate young man, ignores his father's request not to join the army. When the fighting encroaches upon Ben's home, he finds himself drawn into the war.

Leaving his younger children under the care of sister-in-law Charlotte (Joely Richardson), Ben, son Gabriel, and Frenchman Jean Villeneuve (Tcheky Karyo) form a militia made up of farmers, ex-slaves, and other common folk. Their raids on several groups of British soldiers incites the ire of Colonel William Tavington (Jason Isaacs), a sadistic British officer who delights in killing, as well as General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson), the commander-in-chief. When Tavington's inhumane tactics bring heartbreak and grief to Ben's men, they join with the regular army in a massive battle to stop the British from advancing.

Emmerich is widely known as a purveyor of sci-fi, special effects extravaganzas (Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla (1998)) with little in the way of originality. His handling of the battle scenes in The Patriot is adept (the best segment is when Ben and two of his younger sons ambush a column of soldiers - the contrast between the ruthlessness in Ben's eyes and the fear and tension in his sons' is startling), though most are not on the same scale as those in Braveheart. While not as gut-wrenching as those in, say, Saving Private Ryan, the battles are still very bloody. Emmerich goes overboard, though, in terms of making the audience hate the British as much as possible. We have General Cornwallis, a gentleman, even in war, who decries the brutal procedures of Tavington, but then turns a blind eye when his need to find Ben and his militia becomes all-consuming. Tavington himself has no redeeming features - he uses men, women, and children, to achieve his aims. (There has been an outcry recently over the depiction of Tavington. Historians say he was nowhere near the heartless butcher as shown in the film. Never mind; Hollywood has never been too concerned with historical accuracy before, so it's unlikely they would start now.) What is worse, though, is what seems like a need to turn several scenes into pure sentimentality. A scene between Ben and his youngest daughter is moving, but I got the feeling Emmerich was trying to wring the audience's heart as much as possible. As a result, these interludes came across as a bit manipulative.

The acting, on the whole, is quite good. The two standouts are Mel and young Australian actor Heath Ledger. Mel's expressive face and blue eyes are put to rigorous use, and there are a couple of occasions when the mania he displayed in past work like Mad Max and Lethal Weapon resurfaces. This is a more subdued Mel than in Braveheart, which is more in line with the character's pacifism and better for it. Heath Ledger, the latest in a line of Australians making it big in Hollywood (Hugh Jackman, Rachel Griffiths, and Toni Collette are others), is very good as the young man with a deep devotion to his country's cause, so much so he is prepared to defy his father in support of it. He and Gibson have a warm rapport, which is crucial to the film. As for the rest of the cast, Isaacs, as Tavington, is suitably mean and cruel, Wilkinson (Rush Hour and The Full Monty) appropriately British, and Karyo a surprise with his portrayal of the lone Frenchman with his own reasons for joining the Americans. Cooper, so prominent in both October Sky and American Beauty, is only accorded a handful of scenes. And Richardson fills the almost-required, but limited, female role. Several of the Martin children, however, acquit themselves very well, and are the focus of some powerful sequences.

The team of Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin have been successful (at the box office, at least) at creating popcorn films like Independence Day and Godzilla, so it's surprising to see them tackling a subject as serious as the War of Independence. With help from several well-choreographed battles and some fine acting by Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, they've crafted a long but fairly engrossing picture that in the end is let down by too much manipulation and emotional spoon-feeding. If you're an American, you might cheer, but if you're from Britain, you might be disgusted at how your countrymen are depicted. If you're from anywhere else, how much you like this film probably depends on how much you like Mel Gibson and/or Braveheart. Enough said.

(c) Joe Wong (22 July 2000)