A Real Two Parter

Braveheart and The Patriot are a natural combo.  The theme of the fight for Freedom is naturally passed from one to the other.

As usual, keep in mind these are movies.  As far as history goes, they are not accurate.  As far as the spirit of Freedom goes, the are spot on.  Artistic license has to be exercised in the best of projects, as it's all approximation.  I wouldn't bother with this except it serves as a disclaimer if there are a few who are either misled or are nit pickers for accuracy. 

The quest for Freedom continues.  What occured in Scotland segued to the colonies.  It was cinematically an embarrassment to some in England, an extension of the actual historical events.  I found that to be the case when I participated in a group discussion of Braveheart.  I suggested the above connection and initially received support.  Then, it wavered.  Soon, the people running the group ignored me.  And believe this or not, when I got to the site, I was tracked.  If I told you it was MI6, bet you'd say I was imagining it.  -s-

At any rate, some people want to indeed rewrite history.  Or they are embarrassed by their ancestors.  The status quo is a powerful magnet, causing some to cling to the past as they see it.

History should be a mirror or a light which points to the future.  Others make it conform to their skewed views.  As the voiceover in Braveheart says, 'History is written by those who have hanged heroes'.  It can be.  Or, as I was taught, it reveals our past, warts and all, to help us in the present to build a better future.

Back at the movies, there is the theme of reluctance.  Wallace, based on a real person, wants at first to just be left alone.  that ends in disaster because tyranny leaves no one alone.  People creep about, hoping to be ignored, under the radar if they just toe some mark.  They take quite a lot.

Some of these become collaborators.  It's the old theory that you feed all else to the alligators to keep them from eating you.  Need I say how that ends -s-?  Some reach a point, as did Wallace in movie and real life, that the only alternative to enduring oppression is to resist.

Similarly, Benjamin Martin, based on several real people, fought in the French and Indian war.  He saw and participated in some radically savage acts.  That's war.  He didn't want his family to experience it.  So he wanted to avoid conflict.  This, as we know, became impossible again in movie and reality. 

Tyranny is hungry, all consuming.  If you want a spiritual analogy, a preacher I met told me how demonic spirits behave.  He said they were not picky, that they wanted to destroy us all.

Ignoring and appeasing lead to the same end.  Facing fear and doing something go another way. 

Historically, we have fought for and attained Freedom.  We must do so again.  It is an ongoing dynamic. 

Quoting from another film, John Wayne's Alamo, we face what all people in all times have faced.  To endure oppression.  Or to resist.