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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1990s
    Movies - 1990s Movies - B 3 Mins Read

    Braveheart (1996)

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    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.

    braveheart2

    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
    John Wallace
    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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