Yes, 'Braveheart' was both a critical and commercial success. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and grossed over $210 million worldwide.
In late 1290s Scotland, a time when the Scottish people were under the tyranny of King Edward I of England (aka Edward the Longshanks), William Wallace (Mel Gibson) rises as a Scottish rebel and leads his people in the First War of Scottish Independence. He is set on this journey upon the execution of his wife with whom he secretly married in conspiring to circumvent a jus primae noctis policy sanctioned by the crown.
Braveheart is based on a script written for the screen and then novelized by American screenwriter Randall Wallace. However, the script was based partly on a 15th century poem, "The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace" (aka "The Wallace"), by a minstrel known as Blind Harry (1440-1492). "The William" recounts the life of William Wallace (died 1305), a Scottish freedom fighter during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Braveheart won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture.
Following the death of Murron MacClannough (Catherine McCormack), when the Scots took out the very first garrison of English soldiers, the crowd starts chanting, "MacAulish...MacAulish!", then changes to "Aulish...Aulish!" (or "Wallace...Wallace!"). The "Mac" in Scottish surnames beginning with "Mac" means "son of". Thus, MacAulish means "son of Wallace." The crowd is, in essence, cheering William as the "son of Wallace" (referring to his father) and then Wallace himself.
The UK version (rated 15) is slightly censored in the scene where Wallace slits the Magistrate's throat.
Not at all. As with the majority of films, they are fiction inspired by historical events and not intended to be a documentary.
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