with all its many many faults I can tell you the effect it had in Scotland was tremendous, bear in mind that Scotland has the highest rate of heat problems, smoking and drink issues, Glasgow is the murder capital of Europe etc etc. But Braveheart made people see Scotland in a different light as well as Scots themselves, it set a tidal wave of patriotism across the country and this brought about the return of the stone of scone and we now have our own parliment (albeit a shamboliic one rocked by scandals) .

Of course not all of these can be atributed to Braveheart but there was a "braveheart factor" involved. Gibsons portrayal of Wallace whilst inaccurate, was passionate, and its easy to criticise his accent but I have heard far worse. Liam Neesons accent in Rob Roy wasnt much better. I can hear the american "twang" just has easily as Neesons Irish one.
I love "Rob Roy" and "Braveheart" whilst being almost fictional, they put our tiny country into peoples minds, and capture the imagination of people everywhere.
If Gibson had made a film that was based purely on what we know about Wallace as cast iron facts the film would have lasted about half an hour.

but Bear I agree with nearly all of your points but as I say the effect it had was astonishing.