Braveheart..

[max_tranmere]

Has anyone seem this, I saw it a few years ago but didn't really remember much about it. I then watched it on TV a couple of days ago. Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, and he directed the movie too. It's enjoyable but it's said to be one of the most historically inaccruate films ever made. I found this on Wikipedia - some comments by a couple of Scottish historians:

"Sharon Krossa notes that the film contains numerous historical errors, beginning with the wearing of belted plaid by Wallace and his men. In that period "no Scots ... wore belted plaids (let alone kilts of any kind)." Moreover, when Highlanders finally did begin wearing the belted plaid, it was not "in the rather bizarre style depicted in the film." She compares the inaccuracy to "a film about Colonial America showing the colonial men wearing 20th century business suits, but with the jackets worn back-to-front instead of the right way around." "The events aren't accurate, the dates aren't accurate, the characters aren't accurate, the names aren't accurate, the clothes aren't accurate?in short, just about nothing is accurate." Peter Traquair has referred to Wallace's "farcical representation as a wild and hairy highlander painted with woad (1,000 years too late) running amok in a tartan kilt (500 years too early)." The belted plaid (feileadh m?r) l?ine was not introduced until the 16th century.

In 2009, the film was second on a list of "most historically inaccurate movies" in The Times. In the 2007 humorous non-fictional historiography An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, author John O'Farrell notes that Braveheart could not have been more historically inaccurate, even if a "Plasticine dog" had been inserted in the film and the title changed to William Wallace and Gromit."

ENDS

So there we have it. The film is ridiculous. I found it entertaining though. Have other people on the forum seen it and what did you think?

[Sam Slater]

I think it's stupid, hilarious and inaccurate. A bit like one of your posts, Max !laugh!

[one eyed jack]

Cinema and documentarys follow very different rules Max. I would have thought you'd know that

The film was brilliant in its own right. Not sure Id get hung up on their dress codes to spoil a perfectly good movie

That so called "ridiculous" movie won him an Oscar so I dont think Mel will lose much sleep with your comments

[Cuntybollocks]

Well, as a "jock" where does one start?

Max, you truly are a silly billy, would you not agree that the biggest travesty of this production is the fact that they put an Aussie midget in the lead role?. I could think of so many "home grown" actors to fit the bill!!.

I'm off now, for a wee bowl o' Haggis, neeps and tatties!!



(No Haggis was harmed in this comment)

[Arginald Valleywater]

Drivel. Gibson has a pathalogical hate of all things English.

[Gentleman]

The Scots lap this rubbish up, I still remember attending a festival to see the security firm HUMVEE plastered over with the company name "Braveheart security"

It seemed so much funnier when it ended up bogged in.

[one eyed jack]

Hmmmm. Note to self. Lots of english folk on here. You can tell.

I guess Braveheart was the scottish equivalent to Django. Or is Django the black Braveheart

If Mel Gibson hates all things british (as a lot of americans with a irish heritage must do as well) then its probably because Australia was the dumping ground of its criminals in the 19th century when they were sentenced to transportation to the colonies

[max_tranmere]

Obviously some films are just loosely based on real events, some imply they are very closely based on the events. I think 'Braveheart' should have stated it was 'loosely inspired by a real story' or something like that, it gave the impression this was the real story - many who watched it thought, and still think, it is the real story of William Wallace and how he fought the terrible English. And it's not my comments that Mel Gibson should take any interest in, I know very little about Scottish history (I know a bit but I'm no expert), it is the comments of the real experts, respected Scottish historians who I copied and pasted quotes from in my OP. Those people have written books about Scottish history, have made TV documentaries, lectured on it and so on - and those people have said that the film is ridiculous.

[max_tranmere]

"would you not agree that the biggest travesty of this production is the fact that they put an Aussie midget in the lead role?"

I think the whole idea for the film originated with Mel Gibson, he was not only Director but produced it too I think. So he had the idea for the picture and cast himself in the lead. The Scottish comedian Billy Connelly apparently had the following to say, I never heard him say this but these words appear verbatum in various places on the internet:

?Braveheart is pure Australian ****e?William Wallace was a spy, a thief, a blackmailer ? a c**t basically. And people are swallowing it. It?s part of a new Scottish racism, which I loath ? this thing that everything horrible is English. It?s conducted by the great unread and the conceited w***ers at the SNP, those dreary little pr**ks in Parliament who rely on bigotry for support?.

Interesting comment from Billy Connelly there (assuming he actually made the comment. It seems likely he did). The first bit, Connelly describing Braveheart as "pure Australian shite", also appears on Wikipedia.

I'm not sure who could have played William Wallace as an alternative to Mad Mel, few people know what Wallace looked like, but as I showed earlier it is very unlikely Wallace looked anything like Mel Gibson's depiction of him.

Here is something I found on Wikipedia that made me laugh:

STARTS

Wallace Monument

Tom Church's 'Freedom' statue.

In 1997, a 12-ton sandstone statue depicting Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart was placed in the car park of the Wallace Monument near Stirling, Scotland. The statue, which was the work of Tom Church, a monumental mason from Brechin, included the word "Braveheart" on Wallace's shield. The installation became the cause of much controversy; one local resident stated that it was wrong to "desecrate the main memorial to Wallace with a lump of crap." In 1998 the face on the statue was vandalised by someone wielding a hammer. After repairs were made, the statue was encased in a cage every night to prevent further vandalism. This only incited more calls for the statue to be removed as it then appeared that the Gibson/Wallace figure was imprisoned. The statue was described as "among the most loathed pieces of public art in Scotland." In 2008, the statue was returned to its sculptor to make room for a new visitor centre being built at the foot of the Wallace Monument.

ENDS

[max_tranmere]

I'm not sure if he hates all things English. He may do, but who cares? I heard once that he is originally American, lived there till he was 12, then moved to Australia. Apparently he has an Irish background.