Come For The Birth Of America, Stay For Gibson Tearing apart Red Coats With A Tomahawk, Feel Weird About All The Slavery White Washing.
What happens when you decide your historical epic needs both intense exploitation genre flairs, a wild eyed Mel Gibson, and an intense and consistent hand-waving of Slavery in America? Well, you’ve got yourself The Patriot.
Released in 2000, and directed by noted big budget disaster (both in film genre and box office returns) Roland Emmerich, The Patriot is an incredibly strange film. On the surface, it’s a pretty by the numbers historical epic; we follow the events of the Revolutionary War through the eyes of those who won it, seeing the hard early years of American losses, the regrouping and new, successful warfare tactics, with scenes filled with talks of the “importance of freedom” and how “taxation without representation is evil”, and all that classic history textbook fare.
But, it’s also a deeply violent and mean spirited affair, too. Gibson is at his wild eye-est here, screaming and grunting his way through guerilla assaults on the British, brandishing a pistol and tomahawk. Even when he is being a “restrained, normal man”, you can see the rage and insanity just bubbling under the surface. It is an unhinged performance for something that is clearly supposed to be a prestige type historical film.
Talking unhinged; Jason Isaac may play the most cartoonishly evil character put to screen. Rather than a British commander, Isaac seems to be channeling something closer to a cinematic Nazi commandant, routinely killing on a whim, men women and children, with a self satisfied grin across his face. It is an intensely evil caricature that once again butts up against the sorta prestigious glean most of the rest of the film has.
But, that’s what helps make all of this work, in a weird way? You have all the by-the-numbers historical epic moments; from the rousing speeches to the historically significant iconography to the moments of hopelessness leading to ultimate victory, the stalwart men of history changing the world one defiant moment at a time. But, you then also have Mel Gibson hacking an entire unit of British soldiers to death in front of his young children, or Jason Isaac burning a church full of people down to the ground, or just the numerous shots of people having heads and legs blown to pieces by cannon fire. There’s a little something for everyone!
What is a bit inexcusable, though, is how this kinda bends over backwards to not only sweep slavery under the rug, but do a sort of Song of The South “everyone was happy to work” type bullshit. Mel is a slave owner here, and so is his love interest, his deceased wife’s sister, who owns multiple plantations. Rather than facing the hypocrisy of being “for liberty, but only for some”, the film decides to do a “benevolent slave owner” bit for both of them, which is just in incredibly bad taste.
Ignoring that, as best as one can I suppose, this is still an incredibly weird film that is never really able to lock down its tone. That’s what makes it interesting, for sure, but not necessarily good. Still, watching blood enraged Gibson stab a man to death with the old stars and bars isn’t not going to make me hoot and holler, you know?
Specs:
The Patriot 4k is phenomenal looking, with the theatrical version presented in Dolby Vision. You can also hear every last cannonball fly and every last Gibson bark with the Dolby Atmos audio. Additionally, special features include a director & producer commentary, two featurettes, and the theatrical trailer. The additional Blu-Ray contains the 175 minute unrated version of the film, as well as deleted scenes, a visual effects featurette, and concept art.
This is such a time capsule of its time, not only in its cast and crew, but in the overall vibes. It is from an era where the historical epic was king, both at the box office and the awards circuit, and The Patriot carries pretty much every last trope from that era. And while it is an overall uneven film, for anyone who grew up during this time, it’s impossible not to feel a twinge of nostalgia, remembering this specific type of film that seemingly rarely gets made at this budget level anymore.
It’s interesting how much focus there is on Gibson’s performance, which is definitely a key element of the film’s impact, but you’re right to point out the uncomfortable handling of slavery.