Enthralling and moving, The Patriot tells about the revolution (War of Independence) raised by colonial American against England colonists’ tyranny and oppress in which permeated their lives ubiquitously. Although a pretty long movie (2 hours+), it could comprehensively depict the war extension to South Carolina, and the ups and downs the protagonist feels and so acts.

The plot extends through the acts of a famous veteran in Seven Years War, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), on which his changes in mental activity reflect. Martin was praised and known for leading the brutal and sanguinary victory in Fort Wilderness, but he himself was long dogged by the guilt of that massacre and deserted war affairs ever since. However, his ardent patriotic sons, Gabriel (Heath Ledger) and Thomas (Gregory Smith), who are as prudent as their father was, can’t hesitate to sign up for army but both died innocently in Colonel William Tavington’s (Jason Isaacs) hands. Things that the Redcoats army had done to his family awoke Martin that only contribute to the pursuit of freedom and independence of the country could he balance what he had lost. With this inspiration, he led a militia of town people and composed irregular assaults to regular army of Redcoats.

The film is based on the story of Francis Marion, a militia leader in South Carolina, who is famous for his irregular methods of warfare; the war at the nearly end of the film combines several incidents happened in South Carolina temporarily. Most of the scenes were taken in the settings of where the story took place; the house styles and even the trees according to the documents and the interviews of the director were found similar. The director Roland Emmerich and film writer Robert Rodat were dedicated to reveal the original style of the history from settings, to costumes; especially the Betsy Ross flag, used for 18 years since June 14, 1776, kept and mended by Gabriel in the film and the magnificent war scene when two side army encountered at last in South Carolina at the end of the film caught my eyes.

However, the recruitment of slaves to army is quite apart from the history. Since at first only full citizens or respectable white people could join the colonial militia, only after the time when the colony fell to desperation could some less respectable whites be recruited while the military force gradually become a place of promise for the poor. But at the beginning of the movie the blacks servants, as they called them selves, were brought away. The history of slavery is also seldom mentioned in the movie, and as in the South of America, the protagonist was set to be a non slaveholder, which came to be quite a surprise and over idealistic. But after all, the family reunion in black habitat during the war is warm and moving.

The film reflects the loss and gain that the American patriots experienced when they were forced to pick sides from neutral and finally provoked to contribute in army to protect their family and protest their rights for liberty.