‘The Patriot’ Movie - Revolutionary Pride in the Swamps of the South
by Jeff Walyus
April 2025
Mel Gibson’s character (Benjamin Martin) in this film that was released back in 2000 is loosely based on Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion. After an incident where British soldiers come to his home and harass his family, Martin begins a guerilla campaign of harassing and ambushing British forces operating in the south.
I remember after watching the movie in the theater, my buddy who was with me asked on the way out if I’d ever played the Avalon Hill board game, 1776. It was, in fact, one of my favorite games as a kid. And although I knew almost nothing about the Southern Campaigns back then, I remember playing the Americans and combining the militias in the southern states to harass my dad’s British armies defending the Southern ports. If memory serves those militias never won a single battle for me, but they did force my dad to commit some troops away from his main forces around New York and Boston. Avalon Hill made some great games, but I digress.
The movie follows Martin and his oldest son (played by the late Heath Ledger in what wound up being his breakout role) as they fight the British, the inevitable blowback, and eventually leading to the Battle of Cowpens in the movie’s final act. A criticism of the movie is the British villains being almost cartoonishly villainous, and the story of the Revolution getting oversimplified into a revenge tale. In fact, the biggest knock on the movie from critics is for its historical inaccuracy. This became a bit of a necessity, as Francis Marion’s story has some pretty ugly sides to it (detail at the link). This is also the reason for making Mel Gibson’s character a fictionalized one. But for all of its critics, one part they agree on is that the depictions of the battles as being where the movie is the most accurate.
While these criticisms are fair, they’re not enough to diminish a movie that will make you feel gratitude for what those who fought accomplished, as well as a sense of pride in being an American. If you want to watch the movie, it’s currently streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, or Fandango at Home for $4. Or if you’d prefer to own a physical copy, it costs about the same to buy the DVD on eBay. Either way, The Patriot is a movie well worth watching.
by Jeff Walyus
April 2025
- See Potomac Tea Party’s Guardians of History ‘Best War Movies’ page here
Mel Gibson’s character (Benjamin Martin) in this film that was released back in 2000 is loosely based on Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion. After an incident where British soldiers come to his home and harass his family, Martin begins a guerilla campaign of harassing and ambushing British forces operating in the south.
I remember after watching the movie in the theater, my buddy who was with me asked on the way out if I’d ever played the Avalon Hill board game, 1776. It was, in fact, one of my favorite games as a kid. And although I knew almost nothing about the Southern Campaigns back then, I remember playing the Americans and combining the militias in the southern states to harass my dad’s British armies defending the Southern ports. If memory serves those militias never won a single battle for me, but they did force my dad to commit some troops away from his main forces around New York and Boston. Avalon Hill made some great games, but I digress.
The movie follows Martin and his oldest son (played by the late Heath Ledger in what wound up being his breakout role) as they fight the British, the inevitable blowback, and eventually leading to the Battle of Cowpens in the movie’s final act. A criticism of the movie is the British villains being almost cartoonishly villainous, and the story of the Revolution getting oversimplified into a revenge tale. In fact, the biggest knock on the movie from critics is for its historical inaccuracy. This became a bit of a necessity, as Francis Marion’s story has some pretty ugly sides to it (detail at the link). This is also the reason for making Mel Gibson’s character a fictionalized one. But for all of its critics, one part they agree on is that the depictions of the battles as being where the movie is the most accurate.
While these criticisms are fair, they’re not enough to diminish a movie that will make you feel gratitude for what those who fought accomplished, as well as a sense of pride in being an American. If you want to watch the movie, it’s currently streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV, or Fandango at Home for $4. Or if you’d prefer to own a physical copy, it costs about the same to buy the DVD on eBay. Either way, The Patriot is a movie well worth watching.