Movie Review: Braveheart –The Elersile Edition

You might be thinking “Gee, this guy watches a lot of movies”. Well, that’s partly true, at least in the Summer. But I also have decided to simply review one the day I watch it so it’s best in my memory, so I’m not going to go back and try to remember everything from all the movies I’ve seen in my life.
Anyway, Braveheart is a movie depicting the life of William Wallace (Played by Mel Gibson), the famous leader of the Scottish Rebellion against the English in the 1300s. This movie is not exactly like the original by Mel Gibson as some scenes are removed and switched around to make it leaner, less romantic, and more politically correct. (I in fact just thought Elersile Edition meant a cool special edition). The movie begins with Wallace being tortured and executed in London for treason in a very Jesus-esque way (No vain usage of the word intended) as he’s carried on a T-shaped cross to the deck where he’s gruesomely tortured medieval-style. He’s also mocked by the English and has food thrown at him. The scene finally ends just as he’s beheaded.
The movie then flashes back ten years prior when Wallace returns to his Scottish hamlet clan from a pilgrimage to Rome (He had been in France earlier) and to his old flame, Murron, who he pursues quickly. Wallace desires to live and raise a family in peace, but many villagers are desirous of rebellion against the oppressive English crown. Soon after he and Murron are secretly married, the local nobleman attempts, uh, “forcible intimacy” with her and she successfully resists by slapping, biting, etc. and with the help of Wallace. Nevertheless, she’s captured and killed; Wallace therefore wants revenge and leads 2 successful attacks on English outposts. The English King, Edward Longshanks plots to quell the rebellion, and the Scottish nobles, lead by Robert the Bruce, who in turn is lead by his father, decide to continue their loyalty to the English crown. Thus, it is up to the peasants lead by Wallace to fight for freedom. After sacking York, the largest castle in Northern England, Longshanks personally leads a massive army towards Wallace, who has finally enlisted the help of a few Scottish nobles including Robert the Bruce. However, when the battle begins, Robert is nowhere to be found and the nobles, paid off by the king, desert him. Wallace’s army is defeated, and he finds Robert on the king’s side. Wallace barely escapes with his life. He is then summoned to a meeting with some Scottish nobles, but he is betrayed and captured and as we know from the first scene, killed. And…I won’t reveal the ending…
Overall, this movie was great. I really enjoyed the war and action elements and the fact that the romance. etc. (please read into this) was cut to make it a better war movie. As I hinted at earlier, Wallace is an excellent monomythical hero and somewhat resembles Jesus in his story. He’s just an ordinary person (Obviously Jesus was the diametric opposite of ordinary, but he in a sense was a “common man”) who has the incredible capability of leading and inspiring an entire nation to freedom. (Of course, Jesus lead/is leading most of the world to true spiritual freedom, but…) The Scottish noblemen are no doubt like the evil hypocritical Pharisees, who are trying to keep their good standing with the foreign ruling government. They conspire against Wallace and lead to his execution by the hands of the foreign oppressors. They also however, act as a sort of Satan (Or monomythically, tempters) as they offer Wallace great positions, power, and land when his achievements are recognized. Robert the Bruce also serves as kind of a fallen hero as he succumbs to his father’s evil selfish desires for him to have power and even contributes indirectly to Wallace’s death. But…well, you’ll just have to watch the movie…
Another note, the movie is rated R, and I am very careful in what I watch. I would recommend Kids-in-mind.com to see objective views on how much sexuality, violence, and swearing movies have. I try to stay shy of ones with a lot in the first category, or do the old “cover your eyes” trick. And yes, this movie is rated R primarily for medieval violence. It sometimes made me look the other way. Of course, a lot of it is just some really cool sword-through-stomach, mace-in-pretty-much-any-location kind of war violence, but it got a little extreme. The Wallace torture scene was “non-violent” per se, but it was gut-wrenching anyway to see the poor guy get strangled, stretched, and, let’s just say “other things”.
Again, this movie (and cut) is definitely your movie if you like straight war violence and a great hero. Enjoy!