I saw Say Anything about a year ago, and loved it. Others that come to mind For Keeps, Braveheart (sort of). Sigh, its all about the 80s for me, although Braveheart was 90s. By the way if anyone says Gone With the Wind I will barf.
In Braveheart which romance are you talking about? The one b/w William and the French Princess (Sophie Marceau) or the one b/w William and his Scottish wife?
I am not a historian, & I'm sure there are others who could speak more authoritatively about the subject than I, but the latter of the two romances above seems to me highly improbable. The first of the two seems somewhat believable. After seeing the movie I wondered though if it was in fact the murder of his wife that motivated the historical William Wallace to take up arms against the English.
Historical Accuracy:
I have heard that according to the historical record the French Princess was a teenager. I do know that in the movie the actor playing the young William speaks with a different Scottish regional accent than the elder William. I think in order to compensate for his age in the movie Braveheart shows Wallace (Mel) as coming back from the Crusades. However, the young William (from the beginning of the movie) seems only to be maybe 2 years or so older than his future bride, yet when they meet again he seems so much older than her.
It's just one of the many historically inaccurate parts of Braveheart. The Scots go to battle with face paint (thought that went out with the Picts). It's a nice touch though.
Mel Gibson makes entertaining movies it's true. I've enjoyed watching them. Should they be taken seriously as legit. history? He seems to have wanted that to be the case for the latest: "The Passion of the Christ". The Patriot, & We were Soldiers Once and Young, all claim to be "historical" I suppose. In the Patriot there is a village of African Americans living on the beach, and the main character has freed Blacks working on the plantation when probably in all of the colony of South Carolina at the time there were likely only a handful of freed blacks & most anyone who had African American background and was free was probably a so-called "Mulattoe".
One other thing that Braveheart kinda skipped over was that William Wallace didn't just stop at Razing English towns he did the same thing to a bunch of scottish towns also.
I am sorry if this offends, but Braveheart is one of the hugest jokes of all supposedly "epic" movies. Everyone in that movie is an incredibly corny cliche. The Scots are all big dumb lovable and strong. All the english are gay, smarmy, and straight evil. Mel doesn't give the audience any credit and so leaves no grey area whatsoever. You're just sposed to go "Yay, lovable dumb Scots! Kill the evil gay English!!"
...and if I see Mel Gibson in one more movie giving that steely-blue-eyed "I'm so hurt/confused/saddened/constipated" look, I'm gonna die or vomit or vomit then choke on my vomit and die!
I meant the relationship between Willaim and his Scottish wife. Yeah, I thought the one with Sophie was unlikely too. Unless his intent was to just get her knocked up, which he did.
I don't agree that Braveheart was the worse of those epic movies. Remember that it came before most of the others, and Gladiator was just a big rip off of Braveheart.
And true in recent years Mel has become annoying in his movies and makes me want to kill him about as much as Tom Hanks does. I will also always remember Mel as the main character in the second movie that I almost walked out on What Women Want.
I dont care if you don't like the film asshole, it shows Scottish guys killing English wankers and that is fucking brilliant! About time too, everyone hates the self-loving english pricks. Hooray to the fantastic Scottish soldiers who kicked the invading scum out of our wonderful country!!!
The previous post reminds me of this line from Trainspotting:
"I hate being Scottish. We're the lowest of the fucking low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shagged into colonization. Some people hate the English, but I don't. They're just wankers. We can't even pick a decent country to be colonized by. It's a shite state of affairs, and all the fresh air in the world will not make any fucking difference."
As for Braveheart, I liked it. Is it a true depiction of the life and times of William Wallace? Um, I don't think so. Damned entertaining Hollywood movie though. Sophie Marceau is hot, & those battle scenes were pretty good - Falkirk and Sterling.
What is hinted at & was probably the case in most of Medieval Europe was that while there may have been a vague sense of emergent nationalism, in most cases people were born, lived their short lives (comparitive to now), and died within a few square kilometers. The vast majority of people never ventured much further than the next river valley, or shire, over from their home. Their allegiance (to the extent that they had it) was with the local lord, clan, kinsmen, village headman, etc. rather than some distant nominal king. Mel Gibson's William Wallace as depticted in the movie has some rather modern ideas. Recall that the events in this movie take place well before the Enlightenment or the Renaissance.
Also, does Mel Gibson have some sort of hate-on for the English? It seems in so many of his movies the English are portrayed as "gay and evil" to quote from another previous post. That the English have been colonizers and tyrranical at times in their history cannot be doubted, but they are far from the only ones. In Braveheart and in The Patriot the English are the bad guys, in an almost cartoonish manner. On the other hand, the Vietnamese (while the enemy) in We Were Soldiers are depicted with some measure of depth, respect, and sympathy. Is this because the movie is in the modern era? Were the NVA not a nasty bunch?
I can't comment on Gibson's opus Passion as I haven't seen it. The English as such did not exist at that time though, so there can't have been any gay evil English characters . . . . at least I don't think so.
Mel's far more shrewd that we are led to believe. He knows that even a fourth 'Road Warrior' or fifth 'Lethal Weapon' - ain't gonna chew up the box office.
Let's look at his most recent films. 'Passion of the Christ'; 'We Were Soldiers'; and 'The Patriot'. In the old days, we'd call that 'propaganda'... can anyone say, 'President Gibson'?
He his the pride of Poughkeepsie, NY. And we're damn proud of him.
Meli bo beli can't be the good old prez He ain't born here there for can't be prez here. At least thats what my 9th grade Local State and National Government teacher told me.
Ignorant boy, many scots i have met like to have a joke about hateing the english but they dont really, its all just bullshit really, the english did lots of good and lots of bad, you can keep whineing about them or shut the fuck up and realise britain (wich is infact england) had the largest empire in history. Get over it, let it go. Why do people still whine about oppression inflicted upon ancestors hundreds of years ago. Absoloutly pathetic.
when Billy Bob Thorton in the movie called "Bad Santa" cornholes the the big fat black hooker and she see's him later on down the road and tells him to stay away from her because he packed her shyt last time and she hasn't been able to walk right or shyt right for the past week! "awe no you stay away from me you sick motherphucker!"
when Billy Bob Thorton in the movie called "Bad Santa" cornholes the the big fat black hooker and she see's him later on down the road and tells him to stay away from her because he packed her shyt last time and she hasn't been able to walk right or shyt right for the past week! "awe no you stay away from me you sick motherphucker!"
The only Scots who have a problem with the English these days are uneducated Weegies who usually have the same problem with Blacks, Asians or anyone else who don’t look or sound like them.
Braveheart is romanticised Hollywood crap - fine as a bit of entertainment with your pizza but if you think your watching a historical masterpiece you need get down the library.
Half the Scots who have a problem with the english dont actually have problems with the english, they just dont like the fact that when Coultard wins a grand prix he's a british driver, and when he crashes he's scottish, and the BBC national coverage does tend to give minimal coverage to anything Scotish that comes up in the news... but in the same way no more than the issues in devon or east anglia... so anywhere not london then really.
I know a few scottish guys and they love their 'underdog with more national identity than you' pidgeon hole, wouldnt have it any other way. Its amazing as to the animosity from the Scots and Welsh towards the English, seeing as there is little to no hatred the other way.
Also, it might be an idea for everyone to pick up their history books and give them a thorough going over... Did you know that Scotland ruled England for longer than England ruled Scotland throughout history? Not to mention, England and Scotland only have a common monarch because James I, a scottish king, took the throne in England also after Elizabeth I died with no heir. Its the fault of Scotland if they dont want to be part of Britain, because they entered in their own free will to begin with! (Think its funny though that when James I became king of England and Scotland he moved to London, and didn't visit Scotland ever again!)
All I know is that I read somewhere that Edinburgh is situated on top of an inactive volcano. Sure, our White House may have burned down during the war of 1812 - But ya gotta admire the brass balls on those Scottish guys that said, "Sure, let's put the Capital... HERE!"
So, this American tourist is in Scotland, and he stops at a bar and he sits down next to a regular:
Regular: Hey Lahdee.
American: 'sup
regular: do you see those shelves behind the bar, Lahdee?
american: Yeah. what about 'em?
regular: I built those shelves wit me own haanz! Do you think the people around here call me McCrackin The shelf Builder? Nooo, lahdee, they don't. And do you see that fence out there on the glenn? I built that fence wit me own haanz. Now, do they call me McCrakin The Fence Builder? Noooo, lahdee, they don't. And do you see those houses past the fence? I built those houses wit me own haanz. Do you think they call me McCrackin The House Builder? Nooo, lahdee, they don't.
