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!

Who I is?

Yes, the inevitable post of selfishness where I talk all about me. As much as I like myself, the post is somewhat obligatory. I’d rather talk about what I think. However, it is important to understand where I’m coming from and what I believe because all these things with certainly color my writing and be quite evident in it.
So first and foremost, I am a Christian. I have been one since I was 4 years old and it is the most central aspect of my life. This of course is easy to say, but hard to live out. It’s a constant struggle for me to put Christ and what He wants to do with me before myself and my desires. My favorite verse sums up myself quite nicely. 1 Corinthians 15:10 says: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. This verse really means a lot to me because I have been given much. I can easily credit my accomplishments to myself, but it is God and His grace working through me that has enabled me to be who I am. I want to be the person who in this life, works their tail off serving Christ and doing my best, all through the power of God.
I also have very strong political views. I will not hesitate to say that I’m a conservative Republican and I actually am interning for my Congressman, Rep. Peter Roskam of the 6th IL Congressional District. So some of my posts now and in the future might involve interesting things that have happened while volunteering there.
My laptop (An IBM ThinkPad T40) is one of my most treasured electronic companions. I use it all the time and have really poured quite a bit of my life on it, considering all the Documents, pictures, and other things loaded on it. However, it is getting old and worn, so I’m hoping to get one in the next few years, depending on how much money I can acquire.
I also love photography. My Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 point and shoot has served me well for over two years and I’ve taken thousands of pictures with it. If you ask my friends, they’d say I’m obsessed with taking pictures and it occasionally annoys them when I shoot them relentlessly at camp and pretty much everywhere.
I also love to read. I’ve always been a reader, whether of books or online articles. I’m hoping that I can find a widget or some custom thing to have a “Currently reading” section somewhere on this blog. My reading style can be quite odd though, as I read extremely fast, so my comprehension isn’t all that fantastic. At least with novels and exciting books, I want to read to know what happens, so I try to find out as fast as possible. I also like academic reading of AP textbooks and other things that will help me for the classes and tests and make me feel smart too.
My favorite music is another odd thing. I really don’t have too many favorites. I am not that loyal to artists and usually only like 1 or a few songs of theirs. I do like Taylor Swift a lot though. Her songs are really well done and her voice is fantastic. I like all sorts of Christian music, but Hillsong’s worship music is just phenomenal. Also, some Christian rap songs are really cool too, but more on that later.
Well, that should be all. I’m done. There are better and more exciting things to write about and I’m sure you’ll see further aspects of my  life and personality come out as this blog continues.