Braveheart

Braveheart is an epic American motion picture released in 1995 based on the life of William Wallace, a national hero in Scotland. Mel Gibson played Wallace and also produced and directed the film.

Response

Political Effects

The film is credited with provoking a significant upsurge of Scottish nationalism, in particular with leading the majority of the Scottish people, for the first time ever to poll majorities in favour of Scottish independence.

Wallace Monument

In 1997 a statue of Gibson as "William Wallace" was placed in the car-park of the Wallace Monument near Stirling, Scotland. The statue, which includes the word "Braveheart" on Wallace's shield, was the cause of much controversy and one local resident stated that it was wrong to "desecrate the main memorial to Wallace with a lump of crap". In 1998 the statue was vandalised by someone who smashed the face in with a hammer. After repairs were made, the statue was encased in a cage at night to prevent further vandalism. This has only incited more calls for the statue to be removed as it now appears that the Gibson/Wallace figure is imprisoned; an irony, considering that the statue bears the word "Freedom" on the plinth.

Historical Accuracy

Braveheart is essentially a work of fiction, which draws inspiration from real historical events. However, due to the intense level of detail in costuming, makeup and special effects, audiences may incorrectly assume that the production is intended to be historically accurate. Some of the "inaccuracies" in Braveheart may have been motivated by artistic reasons. The anachronistic kilts worn by the Scots make the rebels more visually distinctive, the incomplete armor and missing helmets allow viewers to recognize the actors, and changes to characters and names make the story easier to follow. Modifications to the sequence of events create dramatic juxtapositions, allowing different lines in the story to appear to occur simultaneously. Some noted critiques include:

1. Braveheart's plot includes an affair between William Wallace and the Princess Isabelle, based upon Isabella of France. The film implies she is pregnant at the time of Wallace's execution, carrying the future Edward III of England. Historically, the real Isabella was a child of nine still living in France at this time, meaning she never met Wallace, and furthermore, was never a Princess of Wales, as she married Edward II after he became king.
2. Edward III of England was born in 1312, seven years after Wallace's death; thus it is impossible for Edward III to have been Wallace's son. (Note: this idea may have been derived from the play The Wallace by Sydney Goodsir Smith.)
3. Gibson was criticised for his portrayal of Isabella's future husband, Edward II of England. Although most historians agree that Edward was homosexual, many complained that the film presented demeaning stereotypes towards Edward. In the commentary, Mel Gibson explained he had not intended to show hatred towards anyone portrayed in the film (including the English). It should also be recalled that Mel Gibson did not write the screenplay.
4. The Battle of Stirling Bridge, the first skirmish in the film, was filmed without a bridge. The actual conflict was more of an ambush of the English as they attempted to cross a river. (It is rumoured that Gibson told a Scottish local the bridge was removed as it got in the way, and the local replied "that's what the English found" [1].) The film also makes no mention of Andrew de Moray, Wallace's companion-in-arms and a major contributor at this battle. Curiously, the fight shown in the film is more like the Battle of Bannockburn 17 years later, with English cavalry charging Scottish schiltrons and being repulsed.
5. The film creates the impression that William Wallace invented the Scottish schiltrons and handed out pikes just before the battle. This is completely untrue.
6. Edward I's second wife, Margaret, whom he married in 1299, is absent from the film, although the span of history covered in the production includes this year. This implies his first wife Eleanor of Castile was his only spouse.
7. The film shows Irish conscripts switching sides and joining Wallace's forces at the Battle of Falkirk. The Irish forces were hired mercenaries who, from all accounts, fought well for Edward I. The Celtic soldiers who did display some rebellious tendencies were the Welsh, who had been conquered about a decade earlier. Edward I intended to use them as the first wave of attack and essentially as schiltron fodder. They did not take kindly to such intentions, even if they did not actually switch sides.
8. The film implies that Wallace's rebellion took place against a background of a fairly lengthy English occupation of Scotland. Actually, they had only invaded Scotland the year before (1296) and the mass hanging of Scottish nobles which Wallace witnessed as a boy could not have occured at that time.
9. The sword carried by Gibson is a 16th century Scottish claymore. While a sword which is claimed to have belonged to Wallace (although this is disputed) exists in Scotland, it is significantly simpler.
10. There is some controversy about whether the jus prima noctis (also known as the droit de seigneur), the supposed right of a Lord to deflower virgins in his territory, actually existed, but it certainly never existed in either England or Scotland.
11. It is unclear whether Wallace had a wife or what her name was, but according to Scottish tradition her name was Marion Braidfute, apparently her name was changed to Murron in the film so audiences would not confuse her with Maid Marian from the Robin Hood stories.
12. Wallace's long-standing hatred for the English may not have been because of his wife's death. According to one legend, it arose from the fact that two English soldiers challenged Wallace over some fish he had caught. The argument escalated into a fight, resulting in Wallace killing the soldiers.
13. The then-future King Robert the Bruce is described as "Earl of Bruce", but actually, his title before becoming king was Earl of Carrick.
14. Braveheart suggests Wallace supported the Bruce claim to the Scottish throne; however, Wallace supported the Balliol claim while Bruce was convinced of his father's rightful succession.
15. The reality of William Wallace's capture and execution was far worse than shown in the film.
16. The movie depicts Robert the Bruce's father (who was also named Robert) as a leper. There is no historical record of this though Bruce himself contracted a disease before his death that has sometimes been alleged to be leprosy.
17. Bruce did not betray Wallace at Falkirk. He did eventually switch sides but that was a few years later and as a result of a dispute with the Comyns (not depicted in the film) who supported the Balliol claim to the throne. The Scottish war effort collapsed a few years later because of the defeat of their French allies by the Flemish at Courtrai in 1302. Wallace was hunted down when the Scots were forced to surrender in 1305.
18. In his speech before the battle of Stirling Bridge, Mel Gibson's Wallace alludes to a hundred years of tyranny. Ironically, the 13th century was one of the few centuries when Anglo-Scottish relations were relatively peaceful. This changed after the unexpected death of Alexander III in 1286, when Edward I stepped in to resolve the dispute over the Scottish crown, and used this opportunity to revive English claims of overlordship.
19. The film depicts Edward I dying at the same time as Wallace was executed. In fact, Wallace's execution took place in 1305, in Westminster, and King Edward died in 1307, two years later, en route to put down a fresh rebellion of the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce.
20. The film depicts Edward I defenestrating a male close friend and implied lover of the Prince of Wales. Edward never killed or harmed his son's lovers.
21. In battle, Wallace is shown painted blue with woad, a fashion that had become extinct at least with the Picts, some 5 centuries before his time, if not even earlier.

Gibson, in his commentary to the film, admits many of these historical inaccuracies such as prima nocte quite candidly.

Trivia

• Several of the major battle scenes had to be re-shot, as extras were seen wearing sunglasses and wristwatches.
  
  
• Director/producer Mel Gibson was investigated by the RSPCA, who were convinced that the fake horses used were real. Only when one of his assistants provided some videotaped footage of the location shooting were they convinced otherwise.
  
  
• The castle (King John's castle, Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland) where a lot of the scenes were shot, was also used to film scenes for The Big Red One (1980).
  

• When asked by a local why the Battle of Stirling Bridge was filmed on an open plain, Gibson answered that "the bridge got in the way". "Aye," the local answered. "That's what the English found."
  
  
• The extras used for the battle scenes were mostly members of the F.C.A., the Irish version of the territorial army. As they were drawn from many different army companies, and the members of these are usually drawn from the same locality, local rivalry between such companies is common. Apparently, some of the battle scenes seen in the movie are far more realistic than you might imagine, with rival companies actually using the occasion to try the beat the lard out of each other.
  
  
• Wallace's real wife was named Marian, but it was changed to Murron to avoid confusion with the Robin Hood character of the same name.
  
  
• James Horner's score was also used in several of the trailers for Cast Away (2000).
  
  
• Mel Gibson was supposed to star in Terry Gilliam's (never made) film "A Tale of Two Cities" but turned it down to star in this movie which he then offered to Gilliam to direct, but Gilliam declined.
  
  
• Real life Wallaces are extras in the movie. Mel Gibson also stayed with them during the course of the film to learn history.
  
  
• The battle of Stirling took six weeks to film; roughly half a million feet of film (90+ hours) were shot for the sequence.
  
  
• Screenwriter Randall Wallace had been visiting Edinburgh in 1983 to learn about his heritage when he came across a statue of William Wallace outside Edinburgh Castle; he had never heard of the 14th-century figure who shared his name but was intrigued enough by the stories told to him about "Scotland's greatest hero" to research the story as much as possible.
  
  
• Randall Wallace had very little historical evidence to work with in regard to William Wallace's life; he has noted that even Churchill's definitive work "A History of the English Speaking Peoples" observed in only a single line that virtually no factual material survives about the Scottish leader. Because of this, Randall Wallace relied heavily on a 15th-century romantic poem by the Scottish writer Henry the Minstrel ("Blind Harry") in constructing his story.
  
  
• Writer Randall Wallace initially planned to start the story with William Wallace as an adult and added the prologue of his childhood only as an afterthought. As the sequence was first written, Murran gave William a rose (rather than a thistle) at his father's burial; however, someone who read the script helpfully pointed out that the rose, being a traditional symbol of England, would be (to say the least) somewhat inappropriate as a prominent feature in the story.
  
  
• Glen Nevis, the Scottish valley which served as the location for Wallace's childhood village, also enjoys the heaviest rainfall in Europe. During the six weeks spent filming in the area, only three days of sunshine occurred, during which the wedding scene was finished. The filmmakers resigned themselves to the fact that constant rain was inevitable, and opted to film scenes regardless of weather conditions.
  
  
• Thin layers of latex were used to attach set elements to the ruins of Trim Castle in Ireland to give it an appearance more befitting its medieval origins while allowing the stone to be unharmed when the additions were removed.
  
  
• The mechanical horses designed for the battle sequences weighed 200 pounds and were fueled by nitrogen cylinders propelling them at 30 mph on 20-foot tracks.
  
  
• Single frames of film were removed at strategic points in the battles in order to produce a jarring, startling effect.
  
  
• The film correctly depicts the father of Robert the Bruce suffering from leprosy in his later years; Robert the Bruce himself would be overcome by the disease in the late 1320s.
  
  
• Prince Edward (later King Edward II) was indeed the first English prince to carry the title Prince of Wales, although he did not marry Princess Isabella until 1308, after both Wallace (1305) and Edward I (1307) had died.
  
  
• Mel Gibson is 5'11", while the real William Wallace was 6'6" and his sword was 5'7". Hence, the sword Gibson wielded in the movie was considerably shorter than Wallace's original. Also noted during the Stirling battle when one man says, "It's William Wallace," and the other man replies, "It can't be. Not tall enough."
  
  
• The only way Gibson could get the film made was if he agreed with Paramount studios that he would star in the film as well.
  
  
• Gibson, a notorious jokester, directed some scenes in an Elmer Fudd voice and even yelled, "CUT!" during Murron's funeral scene by putting his arm around the actress playing her mother and hollering, "Will you put a sock in it!" This caused the actress to go from crying in character to break character and laugh. Gibson also intentionally started a false rumor that Sophie Marceau was the daughter of noted French mime 'Marcel Marceau' .
  
  
• Blue body paint for battles had stopped being used around the end of the Roman era - roughly 800 years before the events of the film.
  
  
• In the movie Wallace is jumped, beaten down, and captured at Edinburgh Castle; in real-life, Wallace was captured near Glasgow.
  
  
• The Gaelic war chant 'Abu!' used by the Scots at Stirling is the origin of the English word hubbub since the English couldn't understand what the Irish and Scots were chanting and thought it was just nonsense words.
  
  
• Brian Cox who plays Argyle Wallace was first offered a larger role but took the role of Argyle because he felt it was a better role.
  
  
• One of the film's weary extras reportedly mistook one of Gibson's children on the set for an errand boy, and asked him to bring a cup of tea. Gibson was within earshot, and nodded and whispered to his son, "Go get it."
  
  
• Kilts were not worn by the Scottish until almost a hundred years after Scotland's independence.
  
  
• British soldiers had no uniform during the Scots Wars of Independence.
  
  
• Princess Isabella did not set foot in England until 1308, therefore she could not have been in England to warn Wallace about the upcoming Battle of Falkirk.
  
  
• There is an in-joke in the film that William Wallace's private time with Isabella led to the conception of Edward III. This could not have been the case, since Edward III was born almost ten years after Wallace died.
  
  
• A majority of the actors and extras in this film were actually Irish, although they are supposed to be Scottish or English.