The Patriot Movie

2 Pages 620 Words

The emotionally charged adventure "The Patriot" tells the story of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), a reluctant hero who is swept into the American Revolution when the war reaches his farm and the British endanger what he holds most dear. He takes up arms alongside his idealistic patriot son, Gabriel, and leads a rebel American Militia into battle against a relentless and overwhelming Redcoat army. In the process, he discovers that the only way to protect his family is to fight for a young nation's liberty. But his dark past haunts him.

In 1763, the lengthy French and Indian War ended. England controlled Canada and all the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. In many ways, the men who lived on and fought for this land had stronger ties to it and to each other than to Britain. The hardy settlers formed Great Britain's 13 colonies in the New World. After years of warfare, they reclaim their ordinary lives in the burgeoning cities and countryside.

Benjamin Martin is one of these men. Once a ferocious warrior, he's made a hero by his comrades, but leaves his brutality behind him and returns to his home in South Carolina. He marries a fine woman who bears him seven children and under her influence, he trades his violent past for a peaceful future on his sprawling plantation. But the cost of Pax Britannia is high and the young colonies are not willing to pay the price. A series of taxes are demanded: the Currency, Sugar, Stamp and Quartering Acts come in rapid succession; the draconian "Intolerable Acts" follow. The colonists strenuously object to the notion of "taxation without representation" and the threat to their rights of self-government. The Boston Harbor becomes a vat of tea. Another conflict, this time with England, is inevitable.

Benjamin Martin is not so sure. While the British yoke bristles, he is not anxious to return to battle. He has different goals now. His wife has died in c...