#Brave heart freedom movie

This film relies on its epic size, visually on the big screen and emotionally in the cumulative sweep of its heroic story.Īt 2 hours 59 minutes, 'Braveheart' doesn't need to be any longer. 'Braveheart' is not served well by small-scale snippets on television commercials, in which his battle cry of 'Freedom!' sounds a little silly, or by still photographs that draw attention to Wallace's fake flowing The film is art-directed to the hilt, with a combination of mud and grime and movie-star glamour. Surely it's no coincidence that the war paint on his face is the same cornflower blue as his eyes and the sky.

The language doesn't measure up, but Gibson (underrated as Hamlet in the Franco Zeffirelli film) pulls it off.

It's as if Mad Max had wandered onto the stage as Henry V and offered his own humble St. If they fail to go forward, he says, one day they will look back with regret and be willing to give everything to reclaim that chance to fight They fall into the water below andĪnd before the Battle of Stirling, Wallace rides before hundreds of Scots and rouses them to action. Wallace rides his horse into the small bedchamber of a sleeping enemy, swats the man on the head with a ball and chain and leaps out a high window, still on the horse. A rock lands on the Englishman's metal helmet.Ī few elaborate set pieces stand out. Heads are bashed in swords are run through bodies. They in turn charge at the English carrying pointed wooden poles, the better to impale them. In vast, perfectly orchestrated scenes, the English send hundreds of arrows raining on the Scots. Lover out a window, as if he were shooing a fly. There is no over-the-top acting here: Longshanks casually pushes his son's homosexual Wallace marshals the Scots to fight against King Edward I, called Longshanks, who is played with delicious, coldblooded villainy by Patrick McGoohan. Treachery and extravagant, unrelenting battles. From then on, 'Braveheart' becomes a film of sly political But when someone he loves is murdered by the English, he is capable of slitting the murderer's throat in revenge. Wallace is a warrior with wit and a romantic soul. Zany rock-throwing contest between Wallace and his loyal friend Hamish (Brendan Gleeson). And there are flashes of irreverent wit, including a weirdly The love affair with Murron plays off the actor's heartthrob image. Just enough of the typical Gibson persona shows through to make Wallace accessible and likable in modern terms. The romantic marriage ceremony, at night in a clearing in the woods, is so evocative of 'Romeo and Juliet' Wallace and Murron are married in secret to elude an English law allowing a nobleman to rape a Scottish bride on her wedding night. Wallace is sent abroad to be educated, returns as Mel Gibson and falls in love with a beautiful woman named Murron (Catherine McCormack).

#Brave heart freedom movie

Theīoy sees their bodies hanging from the rafters, establishing right away that this movie is about a savage time.ĭespite that, the early episodes are more lyrical than brutal. At the start of the film, the child William (sweetly played by James Robinson, who looks remarkably like Gibson) wanders into a hut where his clansmen have gone to make peace with the English.

They get quite bloody in the process, too. The medieval Scots use spears, swords, axes and giant rocks, and they use them The logical comparison is not with the pallid 'Rob Roy' but with a 'Die Hard' film. 'Braveheart' is also an explosive action movie. Romance and unbounded heroism, gorgeous photography and a cast of thousands - and add a swift contemporary kick. Gibson's stroke of brilliance is to revel in those epic qualities - tragic The story of William Wallace, who led the Scots in a struggle for freedom from England's brutal rule, 'Braveheart' evokes old-fashioned movie epics. Of 'Braveheart,' he turns the unpromising story of a 13th-century kilted wonder into one of the most spectacular entertainments in years. Braveheart By CARYN JAMES e know Mel Gibson as one of the prettiest guys in Hollywood who would have thought he was also one of the canniest? As director, star and producer