BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: Life without freedom is no life at all. Mel Gibson stars and directs this sweeping saga about Scotland's brutal battle for independence in the 13th century. When William Wallace's (Mel Gibson) wife is ravaged and murdered by English troops, his quest for revenge quickly turns into an impassioned fight for his country's freedom. Tales of Wallace's bravery inspire every commoner to take arms against the English and escalate their crusade into a full scale war. Braveheart is a rich, emotionally charged historic epic filled with passion, betrayal and courage. Its scope and pageantry makes it a true achievement in filmmaking history.

FILM REVIEW: Mel Gibson has only directed a couple of films but each one has seemed to have had a lasting impression on the viewing public. “Braveheart” was probably the only one that was widely accepted by the general public without being too controversial. Based on the life of “William Wallace”, a Scottish commoner who grew to lead the Scots against England and its King, Edward the Longshanks, the film is an historical, romantic, grand epic with gruesome battle sequences and larger than life characters. It’s hard not to get swept up in Wallace’s story, as told and acted by Gibson. The script does take some liberties with the history, but then so many Hollywood films based on history have done that. If you stick to the history you’ll probably pick this film to pieces; this may be beside the point because as a story, “Braveheart” is a gripping, emotional journey.

We are introduced to William Wallace as a child, where he discovers the body of his father, hanged in a hut, along with other men who acted as a peace emissary to King Edward who did not have peace on his mind. At the funeral, he is approached by another girl who gives him a purple flower as a sign of respect and condolences. Flash forward a number of years, Wallace (Gibson) returns home, begins a relationship with the girl from his childhood, and marries her in secret so the English lords cannot exact their legal right to ‘prima notte’ – the sexual right to the new wife on the night of her wedding. Eventually, things go bad when they are discovered, and in a frantic struggle, Wallace is able to escape, but his wife gets caught by the English. The lord of the town has her executed. Wallace returns, exacting his revenge by killing the English lord and his soldiers. Eventually, his thirst for revenge grows as he takes on one village at a time, defeating the English until it culminates in several big battles, with Wallace and his army winning in each one. He assumes the mantle of the man who will bring freedom to Scotland. Wallace is eventually betrayed by the Scottish nobles and is sentenced to death by King Edward. His body is split in to pieces, hung in strategic spots around English as a warning to would-be dissenters.

The story has all the hallmarks of the great Hollywood historical epic. It’s an epic love story, which turns to a tale of tragedy and revenge set against the backdrop of the Scottish rebellion against the English in the 12th century. As a piece of fiction (with some facts thrown in), it works extremely well, and Gibson directs with confidence, drawing you in to the drama and plight of Wallace’s character as every turn escalates his involvement in a larger mosaic of freedom for his country. The film is helped by a handful of scenes which depict the ‘legend’ of William Wallace, with several Scottish commoners in a montage sequence making exaggerated claims about the man which in turn feed the notion that this story is more mythical than factual. As a result, if you come in to a film like this expecting historical accuracy, you will be disappointed (and you’d be missing the point).

The battle sequences are bloody and gruesome. Limbs are hacked, heads decapitated, chests punctured and arms are chopped off, all in a bloody haze as the Wallace’s makeshift army takes on the English cavalry. Even the horses aren’t let off, as they run head on in to wooden spears. Although true to the period I’m sure, Mel Gibson has been known, especially with his next two films, to have an unusually strong preoccupation with violence. At the time “Braveheart” was released it was considered to be more on the extreme side, but it’s quite tame by comparison to Gibson’s later films. Nevertheless, Gibson is also able to orchestrate some grand visual moments, particularly with seas of extras swarming on each other during the battles.

The characters are all engaging, particularly Patrick McGoohan’s sinister performance as King Edward the Longshanks and Sophie Marceau’s gentle but strong portrayal of Princess Isabelle who marries Edward’s gay son but ultimately helps Wallace at a crucial time in his campaign against Edward. The towering performance of this film though belongs to Mel Gibson; his larger than life portrayal of William Wallace commands the screen from start to finish, infusing the character with a sense of uncompromising obsession that is both savage and noble at the same time.

“Braveheart” is a traditional Hollywood epic, filled with drama, intrigue, romance and big visuals. It’s a splendid, emotional journey, if not entirely accurate historically.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: The video transfer of this film is excellent. The colours are strong, the picture is crisp and clear, and overall it just delivers that widescreen epic nature of the picture beautifully. The audio soundtrack is of equal quality, and the surrounds are put to great use, particularly in the battle sequences which make you feel as if you’re right in the middle of the action. An excellent transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: There’s a couple of nice extras in this collection, but I would have liked to have seen more given the stature of this film. The two big extras are an informative thirty minute documentary, “Mel Gibson’s Braveheart – A Filmmaker’s Passion” and the audio commentary from Mel Gibson. The former is quite good, although it does have a slight promotional flair to it. There are some interesting pieces of information, particularly on the production itself, as well as the history of the Wallace character, including one interesting story where he skinned the English commander he defeated in one battle and turned him in to a belt! The audio commentary by Gibson is quite shy and subdued, with a number of gaps through the running time but he does impart some unique insights in to the film and what he was trying to do with it. There’s also a trailer and subtitles (Czech, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish). It’s a decent collection but not overly extensive.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth having in the collection.