13th century Scotland. A Scottish rebel, William Wallace (Mel Gibson), leads an uprising against the cruel English reign of Edward the Longshanks (Patrick McGoohan) who plans to take the Scottish crown for himself.
His father died trying to bring freedom to the Scots when he was a young boy, so Wallace – with the support of Robert the Bruce (Angus MacFadyen) takes on the invader.
Of all the films ever made that purport to be based in actual history, Braveheart ranks as the most egregiously inaccurate.
William Wallace is portrayed in the film as hailing from a family of peasant farmers. In actuality, Wallace’s father was a minor nobleman. The movie also depicts the English as executing Wallace’s wife, thus providing him with a deeply personal motive for rebelling against them. In fact, there is no record of Wallace having been married.
Even Mel Gibson’s physiognomy and age are wrong. Wallace was reputed to have been tall (perhaps 6’5″) and heavily muscled. He would have been in his late twenties to mid-thirties during the uprising against England.
Standing a trim 5’11” and 38 years of age at the time of filming, Mel Gibson was a half-foot shorter than Wallace, much slighter of build, and somewhat older.
Woad, the blue war paint prominently displayed in the film’s battle scenes, had not been used by Scottish warriors since the end of the Roman era, some 800 years before the events depicted in the film. The movie also depicts several clans in Wallace’s army dressed in their representative clan tartans, but the use of distinctive kilts and tartan patterns did not emerge until the Victorian era, 600 years later.
Budgeted at around $53 million and given an R rating for its scenes of brutal medieval warfare, Braveheart bagged six Oscars, including Best Director.
While the battle scenes are something to behold, the real interest lies in the way Gibson ups the ante in Hollywood cinema’s enduring fascination with the spectacle of broken, bloodied male bodies where narcissism and masochism combine to create the image of warrior-star.
The next stop for Gibson would be obvious, The Passion of The Christ, the ultimate in celluloid bloodletting.
William Wallace
Mel Gibson Longshanks, King Edward I
Patrick McGoohan Princess Isabelle
Sophie Marceau Argyle Wallace
Brian Cox Murron
Catherine McCormack Robert the Bruce
Angus MacFadyen Hamish
Brendan Gleeson Stephen
David O’Hara Campbell
James Cosmo Prince Edward
Peter Hanly Mornay
Alun Armstrong Young William
James Robinson Malcolm Wallace
Sean Lawlor JohnWallace
Sandy Nelson Elder Stewart
Alan Tall MacClannough
Séan McGinley Mother MacClannough
Gerda Stevenson Phillip
Stephen Billington Craig
John Kavanagh Morrison
Tommy Flanagan Mrs Morrison
Julie Austin Lord Bottoms
Rupert Vansittart Smythe
Michael Byrne MacGregor
Tam White Stewart
Donal Gibson Nicolette
Jeanne Marine Lord Dolecroft
Martin Dunne Faudron
Jimmy Chisholm Lochlan
John Murtagh Lord Talmadge
Martin Murphy Balliol
Bernard Horsfall Cheltham
Gerard McSorley Governor of York
Richard Leaf Sean
Liam Carney
Director
Mel Gibson
Video
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