Braveheart

Braveheart, directed by Mel Gibson, opens to the tunes of bagpipes while panning over the hills of Scotland. The narrator then begins setting the tone for the movie, telling of how King Longshanks has claimed Scotland’s throne for himself. We then meet the main character, William Wallace, as a child, just as mysterious violins begin to play and set the tone for the dead bodies, which are about to be found. At the end of the scene William’s brother and father leave William behind when to go to fight, they don’t return to him alive. This whole first segment sets up not the full story, but also allows for William’s character to develop and the audience to attach to him and sympathize with him. Within the first 15 minutes of the movie our main character has lost everything he knew to the English. While William watches his father and brother get buried, the main recurring song in the movie is heard for the first time. This song will play many times throughout the movie and connect William’s character back to his roots. To bid farewell to William’s family, some of the villagers are said to be playing “outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes (Braveheart).” This is the last we see of the child William Wallace. The film then cuts to the King of England, Edward the Longshanks. He is marrying his son to the princess of France. The King has been busy trying to form a way to gain full control over Scotland. First he suggests buying off the Scottish nobles, or maybe sending his own nobles to Scotland, but these ideas are both shot down by his advisors. The King then decides to reinstate the law, primae noctis, which allows the King’s magistrates to have sexual relations with a bride on the first night of begin married. King Longshanks is then heard saying, “breeding them out instead of chasing them out.” This is psychological colonialism at its worst. By having relations with brides on the first night of being married the English are able to lower Scottish moral very quickly by giving their future bloodlines very little hope. This theme of psychological colonialism consistently appears in the film. A little later in the film, when William Wallace’s wife is slain by a British officer, he says that “we (the British) have always been kind, and this is how you repay our leniency?” He then proceeds to cut William’s wife’s throat. This scene is the turning point in the film and is the spark of the Wallace’s Rebellion. The music shifts in this scene from calm and serene to upbeat and energetic, setting the tone for the rebellion. This film focuses on the issues of class relations during a colonial period. Throughout the film there are meetings of the Scottish nobles, including a key character, Robert the Bruce, who is most likely to be the next Scottish king. These nobles are consistently disagreeing with William Wallace, and feel threatened by his presence as a rebellion leader, since he is not knighted or a noble. Robert the Bruce’s father, a leper in hiding, is constantly manipulating the nobles, via Robert visits to him. He tells Robert to support the rebellion for now. The other nobles do not want to support the rebellion, but do so until the time comes when they are offered land and money from the English king, in exchange for their allegiance. Another important supporting character we meet is Stephen, the Irishman, who has traveled all the way from Ireland to fight with William Wallace. This character is extremely important to the message of this film because he represents solidarity between the Scottish and the Irish, who have both been oppressed by the English for years. Within minutes of meeting this character he saves Wallace’s life from a commoner that had been paid off to kill Wallace. This is also very important because it shows what extreme’s people would go to, just for their own personal freedom. The next big turning point in this film is the first battle between the Scottish and the English. The scene opens with the three Scottish nobles in front of “their” army. The camera slowly pans to the side and we overhear a conversation being had between two men in the first line of the Scottish army. They begin talking about why they are at the battle, and how there is no point for them to be there. This is because they know that the nobles will just settle with the English for money and land, and allow the imperialism to continue, as long as the nobles go unaffected and unharmed. Once the commoners that make up the army see the opposing forces, one says, “ I didn’t come to fight so they (the nobles) could get more land,” the other responds, “Alright lads, we’re going home!” This shows what little nationalism the nobles have created, and how distant the nobles are from their people. Just when the men are beginning to leave, Wallace and his highlanders show up. Wallace then makes a speech referring to “a whole army of my countrymen, who have come to fight as free men.” He asks them what will they do without freedom. This speech creates the nationalism that is needed for the Scottish to rally together and beat the British. Throughout the rest of this film Wallace struggles to gain the support of the nobles, while constantly gaining support from all the other classes of Scotland. The movie comes to a close when Wallace is set up by the nobles and is captured and sent to prison. Wallace is then sentenced to death and the last scene of the film shows all of his closest friends hiding in the crowd while they watch their friend, hero and leader die. There have been numerous reviews about this film due to its high popularity. The main reaction to this film from the public was the issue that this film is incredibly historically incorrect. In his book, Brigadoon, Braveheart and the Scots: Distortions of Scotland in Hollywood Cinema, Colin McArthur analyzes the historical issues in Braveheart, and points out many of the flaws. Many other articles have touched on the flawed history in Braveheart, but the most mentioned flaw seems to be the issue with primae noctis, and whether or not it actually existed. Colin McArthur argues that it did not exist. He explains the reasoning behind keeping it in the film: “The reason is dramaturgical. By making this an explicit policy of Edward’s (King Longshanks), the sexual harassment of Scots women by English soldiers can be presented as his calculating villainy (McArthur, pg 188).” Alex von Tunzelmann wrote an article for guardian.co.uk only a year ago a noting that this law is, “not only fictional, but profoundly ridiculous.” What is stunning about this film is the fact that no matter how ridiculous some of the fictional parts are the public still loved it. The film is now looked at as a masterpiece, an epic adventure story about one man who stood up against an evil king to win his freedom and the freedom of his people. The year it came out the film won five Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director, and was nominated for five others.

Bibliography
1. Tunzelmann, Alex Von. "Braveheart: dancing peasants, gleaming teeth and a cameo from Fabio." Guardian.co.uk. 30 Mar. 2009 .
2. McArthur, Colin. Brigadoon, Braveheart, and the Scots distortions of Scotland in Hollywood cinema. London: I.B. Tauris, 2003.
3. Ewan, Elizabeth. "Review: [untitled]." The American Historical Review 100 (1995): 1219-221. JSTOR.
4. Karras, Ruth Mazo. "Review: [untitled]." Social History 24 (1999): 350. JSTOR.