Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13855 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-04-17
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Collector's Edition, Dubbed, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Icelandic, Dutch, Finnish, Romanian, Danish, Hebrew, Spanish, Hindi, Czech, Norwegian, Portuguese, Bulgarian, English, Swedish, Arabic, Turkish
• Dubbed in: Spanish, Czech
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 158 minutes

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Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.

Plot Synopsis

The movie takes place in South Carolina in 1776. Benjamin Martin, a French-Indian war hero who is haunted by his past, is a patriot who wants no part in a war with Britian. Meanwhile, his two eldest sons, Gabriel and Thomas, can't wait to go out and kill some Redcoats. When South Carolina decides to go to war with Britain, Gabriel immediatly signs up to fight...without his father's permission. But soon, Colonel Tavington, British solder infamous for his brutal tactiks, captures Gabriel and sentences him to be hanged. As Gabriel is taken away, Thomas tries to free him, only to be killed by Tavington, in front of Benjamin. Now, seeking revenge for his son's death, Benjamin leaves behind his five other children to bring independence to the 13 colonies.

Synopsis
Mel Gibson stars in this action-packed historical drama from the director of INDEPENDENCE DAY and GODZILLA. Gibson portrays Benjamin Martin, an unassuming man who is forced to join the American Revolution when the British threaten to take his farm away from him. Together with his patriotic son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), the pair faces the vicious Redcoats with a heroism that reflects the stubborn pride of a young country's most dedicated supporters. THE PATRIOT is a sweeping epic adventure that sheds light on America's past, and at the same time entertains audiences.

Customer Reviews

The Patriot...
...Wherein a German filmmaker by the name of Roland Emerich makes a film where evil British Redcoats commit a vile atrocity against American freedom fighters... an atrocity that in reality was perpetrated by German troops against French villagers in WWII. Nice one Roland. What are you going to do next - make a film where the British gas 12 million people in Auschwitz before the plucky German freedom fighters come to the rescue?

The Patriot
Another piece of Mel Gibson's non-factual, anti-British historical work.
If, as shown in the film, British soldiers had herded American women and children into churches, locked the doors and then burnt them down, killing them all, I'm sure we would have known about it.
Usual Gibson theme, nasty, vicious and incompetent Brits. Brave and recourceful Americans.
Go back to school Mr. Gibson and learn some history.
For those of you who slept through most of your history lessons, you might enjoy the movie, but as long you realise that it is a piece of fiction based in never-never land (Gibson's character was supposed to own a large Plantation in the Carolinas, but didn't own any slaves! - Come on now, get in the real world!)

Total Propogandistic Fiction!
This film is competently made but it must be borne in mind that 90% of its content is utter fiction. Worse than that, it once again re-introduces viewers on a global scale to those ever-so repellent and downright evil British imagined by Mr Gibson. The film is total propoganda. I am a history lecturer so I think I know my facts. I must point out to Peader, the reviewer from Ireland that this is NOT an accurate depiction of events. I didn't catch the part in the film where the British had promised if they retained rule in many of the 13 colonies then slavery would be abolished and that a huge black slave mutiny took place that was cruelly put down by the American "patriots"! In fact the founding fathers were only too keen to propogate slavery to boost their own economy. Isn't it strange how any slaves that are seen in this movie are ever-so happy with their lot? Also, the British were extremely lenient in prosecuting this war. Indeed, many of the British conducting the war knew the insurrectionists personally as friends & didn't want to fight it at all! Most of the brutality that did occur came from the French who were funding the rebellion in an effort to weaken British power and who also hoped to re-claim some of their lost lands in America. Propoganda such as this film is dangerous as it will be swallowed without question by most viewers and it is a slur on the British nation. This is an added shame because I feel Mr Gibson is actually a hugely talented man. I just wish he could be a little more open-minded towards the British!