Have you heard of this movie?

[macwilkin]

The purpose of the movies, at least from a Hollywood perspective, is to make money by entertaining people. Nowhere, in the Hollywood Producers credo, can I find a reference to the necessity of being historically or politically accurate. Hollywood is nothing more than a celluloid sausage factory-- grind 'em out, sell 'm everywhere, and if someone gets heartburn, well it's no big deal. It's not like they died or anything.

So yeah, Braveheart had about as much historical accuracy as a Michael Moore "documentary" has factual accuracy. Unlike Ken Burns (The Civil War), Mel Gibson didn't set out to document Scotland's war for independence, and neither did Braveheart's writer, Randy Wallace. Instead they successfully collaborated (or should that be conspired?) to create an entertaining (which it was) film with enough easy-to-follow action that even the mouth breathing, gum chewing, seventeen year olds in the audience wouldn't start texting one another.

Like the good doctor from Vienna said, "Sometime a cigar is just a cigar." And like Max Schlemming said to me on the back lot at Universal more than forty years ago, "A movie is just a movie kid. Just a movie."

That may be, Scott -- but from a history teacher's perspective, we're the ones holding the mop and bucket to clean up Hollywood's mess. I suppose that's job security in a way.

Hollywood can turn out entertaining movies with a fair degree of accuracy, though.

T.

[oxter]

Historical accuracy aside, it's still an entertaining and quite moving film. The final scene never fails to make my allergies act up....

I just showed it to a few friends of mine last night who'd never seen it. They got a kick out of the fact that I was wearing a kilt while watching it.

[sathor]

Hmm A&E E for entertainment. I don't think I ever saw it on PBS, History or Discovery.

I remember when we first got A&E, it was like a commercial driven PBS mixed with the upper end of the BBC...

On AMC yesterday, I say them playing Terminator 2. Oh how times have changed. I remember MTV playing music vids. I remember VH1 playing (crappy a/o Old) music vids. I don't rembember the last time I've seen a music vid on either of those two. Pallidia at least plays music....

[ccga3359]

Hmm A&E E for entertainment. I don't think I ever saw it on PBS, History or Discovery.

You will find it on Canada's History Channel as part of their "Fact & Film" where they show a documentary, then a film on the subject. The subject last week was a fella named Wallace (not Gibson) but I do recall in the documentary portion their was a bridge involved. I'm still paying for that &%*#$ film as I am English and my wife is a Mel Gibson fan.


Further proof that this fim must be true is a quote by Randall Wallace, writer of the same said movie:

"Before I wrote the film I had never heard of William Wallace and his story seemed so romantic to me. I think he is an ancestor, I feel his blood in my veins. I can't prove it but then no one can disprove it."

Why would he make stuff up?

[Jack Daw]

I have both Braveheart and Rob Roy, both released in 1995, in my dvd library. Braveheart is for the ladies. And, Rob Roy is for me.

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Most mothers still dream about a man who's well built,
Braveheart looked great as he lifted his kilt!
Your mother's still sweet, she's still full of class,
But her eye will still twinkle when she thinks of Mel's ***!!

So get some pipes and help her remember,
Tales of Brave Wallace the Scottish defender.
Her mind will be filled with Scots on the plunder,
And thoughts of those kilts and what could lie under!!!!







P.S. Personally I like Rob Roy better. I much prefer happy endings to movies.

[shawhighlander]

...They got a kick out of the fact that I was wearing a kilt while watching it.

I just realized in the dozen times that I have watched the film, I was always kilted. hahaha

[Mael Coluim]

Do you mean the movie that in 1995 won Oscars in the following Academy Awards categories?
1. Best Picture
2. Best Director
3. Best Cinematography
4. Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
5. Best Makeup

And was nominated in these categories?
1. Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
2. Best Sound
3. Best Music, Original Dramatic Score
4. Best Film Editing
5. Best Costume Design

And probably made more people aware of their Scottish heritage. And caused more men to wear kilts. Right, I’ve heard of it. It was a movie right, not a history lesson?

[macwilkin]

It was a movie right, not a history lesson?

Believe me, for many of my students, movies are the only place they get the majority of their historical knowledge. Again, it's a big mess that those of us in the classroom who take our history seriously have to clean up frequently.

But, to be fair, I use a number of films in class that are quite good from the historical perspective.

T.

[ccga3359]

Believe me, for many of my students, movies are the only place they get the majority of their historical knowledge. Again, it's a big mess that those of us in the classroom who take our history seriously have to clean up frequently.

But, to be fair, I use a number of films in class that are quite good from the historical perspective.

T.

Hollywood movies are the Cliff Notes of them dusty old history books.