Braveheart

Most on this site pick the Godfather, or the Shawshank Redemption, but this is it, this is the best film ever made. People will complain, will argue that I am wrong, but I will say it again...Braveheart is as close to perfection as a movie can be. The acting is superb, the man who played Lonshanks, the actor who portrayed Robert the Bruce, both should have been nominated for Oscars due to their powerful rendering of evil and a man who is saved from losing his humanity (from becoming evil) by meeting William Wallace. And let us not forget the direction, the cinematography. Braveheart is glorious, beautiful to look at. The slow motion pictures of horses preparing to charge armed combatants, the entire landscape of Scotland that Mel Gibson captures with the camera. Braveheart is artwork, it is as good as any picture. That the film is number 93 on the list of the top 250 movies ever is a shame. Yes there is violence in this film but that violence does serve a point...that freedom isn't free and sometimes it takes death, gruesome and horrible, to let ones people taste what it is like to be free. Braveheart is a great movie and it deserves to at least be in the top ten of IMDb's list of greatest films.

I'm a fan of super intense acting performances. Intensity to me is what I think people call star power or charisma. Lethal Weapon is one of those movies where his intensity is on full display but he has a different kind of thing going on here. He's a tad older, wiser, gets accosted personally and his livelihood, so his intensity is of a different ilk. He's crazy in Lethal Weapon but in Braveheart he's completely intense while being completely sane at the same time. All of his actions in this film are justified. You're rooting for him from frame one. This is the best film he's ever been in and possible ever will be.

I remember seeing this movie for the first time in late 2003, and I was impressed. I saw it again last night, and I was even more impressed. The acting is amazing, and the ending was brilliant. For me, all my guesses were incorrect. Everything that happens in this movie in unpredicted. The last half hour itself was highly unpredictable, and it had a powerful message. When a scene was meant to be dramatic, they did a great job at it. I don't know about everybody else, but the ending did make me cry. The message the movie sent kept me thinking for a while. The amount of courage and bravery was inconceivable, there was barely any faults or anything wrong with the movie. For a movie of 1995, they did a great job.

I absolutely guarantee this movie to anybody who enjoys action and war with a bit of drama mixed in. One of the best, or maybe even the best movie of the 20th century.

This epic tale of patriotism, love and conflict opens with a birds eye view which takes you through mist and air out onto an open loch with scenic mountains in the background. This is accompanied by stirring bagpipe music, and shortly by the start of a narrative by Robert the Bruce.

After a short introduction of a young William Wallace, involving his fathers death and his first step into warrior-hood, we are taken to present day England where Edward Longshank's tight rule over Scotland is getting increasingly harsh. Enter a fully grown Wallace (a rugged long-haired Gibson) who is back to start a family and a new life. He soon meets Muran, a girl who he remembered from way back. He and Muran fall in love and shortly get a private nighttime marriage, as a public one would result in the 'Prima Nocte' rule being enforced.

Unfortunately, one of the English soldiers controlling their village confronts a scared Muran and forces her into a quiet spot. William leaps to Muran's rescue and all hell ensues. The commanding officer executes Muran promptly for assault on one of the King's men as she bit him whilst defending herself. She was supposed to meet William at a secret spot after she was rescued but was knocked off the horse.

William returns to the village on horseback to give himself in, but he has other plans. The uprising that ensues is one of the most pulse racing and exciting fights that has ever graced the silver screen IMO. This is the spark that starts off the Scottish revolution for freedom. Soon, other clans join Wallace, then whole towns stand by him. He soon finds himself on the fields of Stirling for a real showdown. I thought I'd give you the first hour in a nutshell, the rest of the movie revolves around Wallace, Longshanks and the Queen of France as they all fight for their own cause.

The battle scenes are ground breaking and upfront, the senses of comradeship, love, patriotism and courage all take a stand throughout the film. The music adds further to the epic, be it sad and haunting tunes, or strong and stirring bagpipe anthems. Wallace is portrayed as a beacon of strength and power, not to mention a much honoured leader. Sometimes Gibson takes his character a little too far, but the title Braveheart is one that is implied to Wallace's qualities. The films dramatic and moving ending is a good finish to a superb and powerful film.

A simple message but even today, over seven hundred years later, there are far too many captive to their cultures, governments and institutions. They take a large slice, sometimes all of the freedoms William Wallace and so many others fought for. Keep up the fight because, like the tide, those oppressive forces wont curtail.

A rousing piece of cinema, you can forgive the historical inaccuracies in order for it to tell a hugely engaging and inspirational story full of hope, although it leaves you under no illusion of mans inhumanity to man and the vile and despicable things that can be done in the name of greed, power and control.