Braveheart

[Lon]

I saw this film when it first was released and watched it again on Netflix last night. A really good film and made me proud of that part of my Scottish ancestry. Mel Gibson looked so young.

 

[Cookie]

I saw this movie years ago and found it depressingly violent and horrible. True, Mel was once young and goodlooking, before people found out what a nob he was in real life.

 

[tnthomas]

I saw this film when it first was released and watched it again on Netflix last night. A really good film and made me proud of that part of my Scottish ancestry. Mel Gibson looked so young.

I was young/younger looking too, 20 years ago.

 

[Warrigal]

I thought it a rollicking yarn.

 

[Ameriscot]

I can't count how many times I've watched it. The historians here love to point out the inaccuracies (hey, it's Hollywood!), one of which was the biggest win for the Scots took place at Stirling Bridge. But in the film there was no bridge! I've seen the bridge in Stirling where they won the battle. There's a huge Wallace Monument nearby and people love to point out that the statue of Wallace outside the visitor centre looks a lot like Mel Gibson. Mel did go a bit too far with Wallace having sex with the Princess of Wales! There was no Princess of Wales at the time and the girl who would become the Princess was only 4 years old when Wallace was executed. It was a nice twist though to tell the horrible king that Wallace's child would be on the throne!

I agree that Mel is a nob in his personal life, but Scotland gives him a lot of credit for Braveheart giving it a huge boost in tourism. My husband watched it in London when it was released and he said the audience was very quiet. He came up to Scotland and took his daughter to see it and the audience did a lot of cheering and yelling 'freedom'!

On our latest bike ride I finally saw Elderslie which is supposedly where he was born. I've also seen the site in London where he was executed - or at least the plaque in the area where it happened.