When Gibson directed and starred in Braveheart, homosexual activists went after him for a brief scene wherein the pale young prince's boyfriend was unceremoniously thrown from an upper window by the prince’s disgusted father. Now the gun control crowd has targeted Gibson's latest flick on even thinner grounds.
Looking past the conniption fits of the anti-gun cabal, any reasonable viewer would have to conclude that The Patriot contains a humane, responsible approach to violence. According to the press materials, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), the movie's protagonist, has sworn off fighting to raise a family in South Carolina. It is only when his son joins the Revolutionary army and the English forces literally come to his back door that Martin abandons his pacifism and takes up arms. The film is about a man wrestling with his conscience, trying to make the best moral decision for himself and his family. It's hardly a celebration of the firearm.
Of the character Gibson recently said, “His conscience bothers him. He's motivated by the fear that he could easily regress into his former brutality and that his sins and transgressions will come back to haunt him; that he will have to pay a moral debt that will mean losing what he has. Eventually he finds that he has to either get into the conflict or do nothing and watch his family be torn apart.”
To be sure, The Patriot is a violent film, and some of Gibson's choices for portraying his character's return to combat savagery are over-the-top. But taken as a whole, the film is clearly focused on the very thing art should focus upon: humanity.
In this hyper-politicized day when every film is expected to make a political statement (usually one not embraced by the majority of the viewers), how refreshing to know that there are a few films with protagonists who do not assault the core values of the audience, and who can make us care.
Gun foes are exasperated by the fact that Mr. Gibson's character arms his two sons so they can fight in the Revolutionary War, before joining the battle himself. The film's opponents claim The Patriot glamorizes weaponry and killing.
Have these people never heard of historical drama? Long before political correctness came into the lexicon, there occurred a minor, frequently overlooked event called the American Revolutionary War. During the course of that flare-up, men and young boys actually picked up guns, pitchforks, and anything else they could get their hands on to fight for their independence.
This is not fiction, this is fact. Real men and real boys shed their blood so that a spoiled class of celebrities and media barnacles — who insist on politicizing everything — could ridicule their efforts and make a big deal out of a few actors carrying muskets.
Funny how these same sirens fell silent when Stephen Spielberg graphically depicted the D-Day invasion in Saving Private Ryan. No one breathes a syllable of opposition to the gratuitous violence, nudity and obscenity that the networks shove into living rooms around the world. After all, Hollywood has insisted for years that people are not affected by what they see depicted on the screen. So why is everyone suddenly so concerned?
Might it have something to do with Mr. Gibson himself? It is no secret that Gibson is a Roman Catholic, and unlike many of the baptized, he understands and seems to embrace the moral teachings of the Church. He has publicly aired his opposition to abortion and birth control, and is the father of large family. Perhaps this criticism is a means of picking away at Gibson personally and the values that inform his films.
