Braveheart was a crime upon it's own merit. IIRC it painted one of Wallaces greatest allies, who died at the Battle of Stirling Bridge after getting gangrene on a wound, as a self-serving noble who betrayed him to the English. And did the same for Robert The Bruce.
Actually, Robert the Bruce was portrayed as a good guy, alltough manipulated by his scheeming father.
****ing bollocks. The man did more than Wallace ever did - won independence (in effect) at Bannockburn and is one of the first and greatest guerilla leaders in history - and he's portrayed as a weak minded, scheming traitor who betrayed his country?
Can you think of any other country that has had a national hero portrayed in that way?
It was a simple bastardization of history to give Wallace an excuse for being outnumbered at Falkirk (where it was probably English longbowmen that won the battle, despite Wallace developing the first effective 'schiltron' strategy to use against English cavalry); not only that, they got the Battle of Stirling Bridge wrong (which resulted in Morays death after the battle was won, from Gangrene), and made up a stupid fictional romance with the French princess (in reality, 9 years old at that time). Not to mention the bloody woad markings and token comedy Irishman (the Irish were hired mercenaries who fought for Edward I at Falkirk, and did not switch sides). Also the hanging of Scottish nobles depicted in the introduction never happened (the English only invaded 1 year prior to when the films' 'current day' is set), nor was there any right - in Scotland or England - for a nobleman to deflower a virgin in his territory. and so on.
What's the value of a history, when the facts are ignored in favour of the audience? How can we possibly learn from 'entertainment value'? It pisses me off, because this still affects people; I once had an American couple come up to me (noticing my accent) and ask if we 'hated the English', because they'd seen Braveheart.
(Apparently, there is a Gibson-inspired 'Braveheart' statue near the site of the Battle of Falkirk, which has had to be placed in a cage because of vandalism; people hate it)
