Date: Fri 28-Jul-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Braveheart-movie-violence

Full Text:

Violence In `Braveheart' Is For A Purpose, Not An Indulgence

The prevalence of violence in the entertainment is a subject that has been on

many people's lips as of late. The issue is a serious one and should not be

brusquely dismissed, but dealing with violence in television programs and in

motion pictures is more than just counting up the acts of brutality and then

tallying them like a transgression sheet. The context and overall content of

the production must be taken into account. A perfect example of this is

Braveheart , an excellent movie that was released earlier this summer and is

playing at the Crown Cine Theatre in Danbury. (Please note that as of this

writing, the theatre would not confirm if Braveheart would still be playing at

the Cine on Friday, July 28.)

Directed by and starring Mel Gibson (who also served as co-producer),

Braveheart tells the tale of Scottish rebel William Wallace, who battled

English oppression in the 13th Century. In the late 1200s, Scotland was under

the rule of England's King Edward (a frigidly villianous Patrick McGoohan),

who assumed the throne because Scotland was without an heir. Edward I was

merciless in his despotic reign, prompting many battles between insurgent

Scots and the heavily-armed, well-numbered English. This historical narrative

may be unfamiliar to many of us, but the essence of the story - the fight to

gain one's freedom over tyranny - is universal.

Wallace, as a young boy, was witness to the cold-blooded horrors inflicted

upon his kinsman when he stumbled upon the dead bodies of clansmen who had

tried to make peace with the English. Soon afterwards, his father also fell to

their swords, and the orphaned Wallace was sent away to be educated. The film

then jumps years forward, to Wallace's return to his native land as an adult,

where he falls in love with Murron (Catherine McCormack), a beautiful young

woman whom he briefly met as a young boy before he left home.

This fleeting moment of tranquility is soon dispelled by English noblemen who

descend upon the village to enact a newly decreed law that allows them to rape

a Scottish bride on her wedding night. Tragedy soon strikes and Wallace, who

was initially reluctant to get involved in the fight against the English,

quickly takes the lead and becomes a messainic figure to downtrodden Scots,

who now find renewed vigor and strength to challenge their oppressors.

Braveheart is the type of epic film that one rarely sees these days - a

spectacle that transports the viewer away to another time that is so

faithfully and stirringly re-created it awakens the thrill of when we first

discovered the movies as children. But, that is not to say that Braveheart is

therefore a family film.

One of Gibson's many successes in this film is his ability to stage massive

battle scenes that are reminiscent of the classic films from directors like

Cecil B. DeMille. However, the modern twist he added to these sequences is a

grueling type of realism that is arguably as gut-wrenching and affecting as

nearly any recent, graphic Vietnam flick. The purpose here is not only to be

as truthfully evocative of the age as possible, but to explore and illustrate

the horrific reality of what these individuals were fighting for and the

potentially vast price it could cost.

At the core of Braveheart is a timeless tale about the type of hero that

concerns most classic Greek dramas. Love, honor, idealism, good versus evil,

and the tenacity to hold fast to one's beliefs are all ingredients that make

Braveheart a truly notable film. But because of the nature of its intense

battle scenes, it may be too much for some viewers. As I watched the movie, I

admit I often cringed at those scenes, but the graphic content was never sheer

indulgence on Gibson's part. It was clear that the aggregate reality of war

(particularly the grisly warfare of that time) was being brought to our

attention not just for aesthetic, gross-out effect, but for a lasting purpose.

Braveheart is rated R for intense and often brutally graphic scenes that

pertain to battle and the atrocities of warfare.