I’ve always wondered wouldn’t a native born Englishman’s pride be a bit disturbed by the way Brits are portrayed in otherwise one of the most emotionally powerful movies ever made?
I’m not particularly bothered about the portrayal of the English in ‘Braveheart’.
The movie depicts - with a certain degree of artistic licence - events which took place around 700 years ago during the rule of an English king who was well documented as a cruel and ruthless man. What is shown may not be pleasant, but it’s behaviour which would have happened during medieval warfare and conquest.
In any case, we may have lost 1-0 to the Scots at Bannockburn, but we beat them 3-0 at Culloden and there hasn’t been a re-match since.
There have been movies where particular national or ethnic groups have been shown in a much more negative light, and in relation to much more recent events.
When ‘Black Hawk Down’ came out in 2001, there were complaints that the portrayal of the Somalis was racist, showing them as brutal and ignorant savages.The Malaysians and Pakistanis were also unhappy because their troops had been shown as mere ‘bus drivers’ evacuating the Rangers from Mogadishu when in reality several of their units were involved in firefights with the Somali militiamen.
May 25th, 2011 at 1:57 am
I’m not particularly bothered about the portrayal of the English in ‘Braveheart’.
The movie depicts - with a certain degree of artistic licence - events which took place around 700 years ago during the rule of an English king who was well documented as a cruel and ruthless man. What is shown may not be pleasant, but it’s behaviour which would have happened during medieval warfare and conquest.
In any case, we may have lost 1-0 to the Scots at Bannockburn, but we beat them 3-0 at Culloden and there hasn’t been a re-match since.
There have been movies where particular national or ethnic groups have been shown in a much more negative light, and in relation to much more recent events.
When ‘Black Hawk Down’ came out in 2001, there were complaints that the portrayal of the Somalis was racist, showing them as brutal and ignorant savages.The Malaysians and Pakistanis were also unhappy because their troops had been shown as mere ‘bus drivers’ evacuating the Rangers from Mogadishu when in reality several of their units were involved in firefights with the Somali militiamen.
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