The Patriot (2000 film)
The Patriot is a 2000 American epic historical drama war film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Robert Rodat. The film stars Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper, and Tom Wilkinson. Set in Berkeley County, South Carolina, it follows Benjamin Martin (Gibson), an American colonist opposed to going to war with Great Britain but, along with his son Gabriel (Ledger), gets swept into the American Revolutionary War when his home life is disrupted, and one of his sons is murdered by a cruel British officer (Isaacs). Rodat has said Martin is a composite character based on four historical men: Andrew Pickens, Francis Marion, Daniel Morgan and Thomas Sumter.
This article is about the 2000 Roland Emmerich film. For the 1998 Steven Seagal film, see The Patriot (1998 film).The Patriot
- June 27, 2000 (Century City)
- June 30, 2000 (United States)
165 minutes[1]
United States
English
$110 million
$215.3 million
The Patriot had its world premiere in Century City on June 27, 2000, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 30, 2000. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed $215.3 million against a $110 million budget. The film generated controversy due to themes of anti-British sentiment and was criticized by historians over its fictionalized portrayal of British figures and atrocities.
Plot[edit]
In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, Benjamin Martin, a French and Indian War veteran and a widower with seven children, is called to Charlestown to vote in the South Carolina General Assembly on a levy supporting the Continental Army. Benjamin abstains, fearing war against Great Britain and not wanting to force others to fight when Benjamin himself will not do so, but the vote passes, and Benjamin's oldest son, Gabriel, joins the army against his father's wishes.
Two years later, in 1778, Charlestown falls to the British Army, and a wounded Gabriel returned home carrying rebel dispatches. The Martins care for wounded British and Americans soldiers before British dragoons arrive, led by Colonel William Tavington. Tavington press gangs the Martins' African American former slaves into the army and tries to arrest Gabriel and hang him as a spy. Gabriel's brother Thomas tries to free him, but Tavington kills Thomas, then orders the Martins' house burned and all the wounded Americans executed. After the British leave, Benjamin and his two younger sons ambush the British convoy transporting Gabriel. Benjamin skillfully but brutally slaughters all but one of the British troops in front of his children. The survivor tells Tavington of the attack, which earns Benjamin the moniker of the "Ghost".
Gabriel rejoins the Continentals, and Benjamin soon follows and leaves the younger children in the care of Benjamin's sister-in-law, Charlotte. While they travel, they witness American forces under General Horatio Gates engaging the British at the Battle of Camden.
Benjamin meets his former commanding officer, Colonel Harry Burwell, who appoints him as colonel to raise a militia unit because of his combat experience and places Gabriel under his father's command. Benjamin is tasked with weakening Lord Cornwallis's regiments by guerrilla warfare. French Major Jean Villeneuve helps train the militia and promises more French aid. Gabriel asks his father why Villeneuve and other militia often mention Fort Wilderness, and Benjamin finally tells him. While fighting in the British Army, Benjamin and his men discovered atrocities against British colonists by the French soldiers. Enraged, they caught up with the retreating French at Fort Wilderness and killed all but two of them. The survivors had to gather the heads of their comrades and present them to the Cherokee, which convinced the tribe to betray the French. Though regarded as a hero, Benjamin never forgave himself.
Benjamin's militia ambushes many British patrols and supply caravans, including some of Cornwallis's personal effects and his two Great Danes, and burns bridges and ferries that Cornwallis needs. Cornwallis angrily blames Tavington for his setbacks but, after Benjamin uses what Cornwallis perceives as a dishonorable and embarrassing ploy to free 18 of the captured men, reluctantly allows Tavington to do everything possible to arrest Benjamin.
With the aid of Wilkin, a local Loyalist, Tavington has several militiamen's homes burned and their families executed. Benjamin's family flees Charlotte's plantation to live in a Gullah settlement with formerly enslaved residents. There, Gabriel marries his betrothed, Anne. Tavington's brigade raids Anne's town and assembles everyone in the parish church, including her parents and Anne herself, knowing that the town is secretly aiding the militia and demands the location of their camp. Despite one townsperson giving it away, Tavington has the doors barricaded and burns the church to the ground, killing everyone inside. Upon discovering the tragedy, Gabriel and several other soldiers attack Tavington's encampment, where Tavington kills Gabriel before he retreats. Benjamin mourns and contemplates desertion but sees the American flag he repaired, reminding him of his son's dedication.
Martin's militia joins the Continental Army regiment and confronts Cornwallis's troops at the Battle of Cowpens. Benjamin and Tavington engage in personal combat. Tavington disarms and wounds Benjamin and prepares to deliver the coup de grâce. At the last second, Benjamin dodges the attack and impales Tavington twice, killing him. The battle becomes a Continental victory, and Cornwallis retreats.
Cornwallis is finally besieged at Yorktown, where he surrenders to the surrounding Continental Army and the French naval force. Afterward, Benjamin returns to his family and discovers that his former militia has rebuilt his homestead.
Production[edit]
Script[edit]
Screenwriter Robert Rodat wrote seventeen drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one. In an early version, Anne is pregnant with Gabriel's child when she dies in the burning church. Rodat wrote the script with Gibson in mind for Benjamin Martin and gave the character six children to signal that preference to studio executives. After the birth of Gibson's seventh child, the script was changed so that Martin has seven children. Like the character William Wallace, which Gibson had portrayed in Braveheart five years earlier, Martin is a man who seeks to live his life in peace until revenge drives him to lead a cause against a national enemy after the life of an innocent family member is taken.
Casting[edit]
Harrison Ford turned down the lead role of Benjamin Martin because he considered the film "too violent"[3] and that "it boiled the American Revolution down to one guy wanting revenge."[4] Gibson was paid a record salary of $25 million.[5] Joshua Jackson, Elijah Wood, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Brad Renfro were considered to play Gabriel Martin. The producers and director narrowed their choices for the role of Gabriel to Ryan Phillippe and Heath Ledger, with the latter chosen because Emmerich thought he possessed "exuberant youth."
Filming[edit]
The film's German director Emmerich said "these were characters I could relate to, and they were engaged in a conflict that had a significant outcome—the creation of the first modern democratic government."[2]
The film was shot entirely on location in South Carolina, including Charleston, Rock Hill—for many of the battle scenes, and Lowrys—for the farm of Benjamin Martin, as well as nearby Fort Lawn. It was filmed on September 7, 1999, and ended on January 20, 2000.[6][7][8] Other scenes were filmed at Mansfield Plantation, an antebellum rice plantation in Georgetown, Middleton Place in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Cistern Yard on the campus of College of Charleston, and Hightower Hall and Homestead House at Brattonsville, South Carolina, along with the grounds of the Brattonsville Plantation in McConnells, South Carolina.[9] Producer Mark Gordon said the production team "tried their best to be as authentic as possible" because "the backdrop was serious history," giving attention to details in period dress.[2] Producer Dean Devlin and the film's costume designers examined actual Revolutionary War uniforms at the Smithsonian Institution prior to shooting.[2]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 137 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "The Patriot can be entertaining to watch, but it relies too much on formula and melodrama."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "A" on an A+ to F scale.[13]
The New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell gave the film a generally negative review, although he praised its casting and called Mel Gibson "an astonishing actor", particularly for his "on-screen comfort and expansiveness". He said the film is a "gruesome hybrid, a mix of sentimentality and brutality".[14] Jamie Malanowski, also writing in The New York Times, said The Patriot "will prove to many a satisfying way to spend a summer evening. It's got big battles and wrenching hand-to-hand combat, a courageous but conflicted hero and a dastardly and totally guilt-free villain, thrills, tenderness, sorrow, rage and a little bit of kissing".[15] In his review of the film, the critic Roger Ebert wrote, "I enjoyed the strength and conviction of Gibson's performance, the sweep of the battle scenes, and the absurdity of the British caricatures. None of it has much to do with the historical reality of the Revolutionary War, but with such an enormous budget at risk, how could it?"[16]
False reviews controversy[edit]
A highly positive review was purportedly written by a critic named David Manning, who was credited to The Ridgefield Press, a small Connecticut weekly news publication. During an investigation into Manning's quotes, Newsweek reporter John Horn discovered that the newspaper had never heard of him.[17] The story emerged at around the same time as an announcement that Sony had used employees posing as moviegoers in television commercials to praise the film. All of those occurrences raised questions and controversies about ethics in film promotion practices.
On the June 10, 2001 episode of Le Show, host Harry Shearer conducted an in-studio interview with Manning, whose "review" of the film was positive. The voice of Manning was provided by a computer voice synthesizer.[18]
On August 3, 2005, Sony made an out-of-court settlement and agreed to refund $5 each to dissatisfied customers who saw that and four other films in American theaters as a result of Manning's reviews.[19]
Box office[edit]
The Patriot opened in 3,061 venues at #2 with $22,413,710 domestically in its opening weekend, falling slightly short of expectations (predictions had the film opening #1 with roughly $25 million ahead). The film opened behind Warner Bros.'s The Perfect Storm, which opened at #1 with $41,325,042.[20][21] The film closed on October 16, 2000, with a domestic total of $113,330,342. It saw a similar level of success in foreign markets, earning $101,964,000 there for a grand total of $215,294,342, against a production budget of $110 million.[22]
Accolades[edit]
The Patriot was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Lee Orloff).[23] It also received several guild awards, including the American Society of Cinematographers award to Caleb Deschanel for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography[24] and the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award for Best Period Makeup and Best Period Hair Styling.[25]