Mel Gibson’s ‘The Patriot,’ Marking Its 25th Anniversary, Is a Film To Watch — Again — This Independence Day

Independence Day 2025 coincides with the 25th anniversary of “The Patriot,” Mel Gibson’s drama about the Revolutionary War. Fixed in time, and enjoying cult status, it holds up in all its violent, red-white-and-blue splendor.“The Patriot” is unique among films about the founding period. It doesn’t focus on future presidents or action at cities like Philadelphia and New York. Instead, it follows a guerrilla fighter, Benjamin Martin, in South Carolina. Mr. Gibson plays the widower, Martin, a veteran of the French and Indian War. A classic reluctant warrior, he’s had his fill of bloodshed. With no interest in joining the uprising against King George III, he even refuses to pay a levy to support resistance.When we meet Martin, he’s building a rocking chair, symbolic of his desire to rest. Its collapse under his weight — and the pile of pieces from previous failed efforts — foreshadows fate denying him that tranquil future.Martin argues for negotiations before the South Carolina assembly, saying that he won’t carry arms or cast a vote for others to do so. Such a conflict, he warns, “will be fought not on the frontier or on some distant battlefield, but amongst us — among our homes.” So it was. The screenwriter of “The Patriot,” Robert Rodat, based Martin on historical figures. The most influential was Brigadier General Francis Marion, “the Swamp Fox.” Although an officer in the Continental Army, he engaged in irregular warfare rather than big, set-piece battles.A painting by William Washington, ‘General Marion and His Men in Pee Dee Swamp,’ features the Revolutionary War figure Francis Marion, an inspiration for Mel Gibson’s character in ‘The Patriot.’ Via Wikimedia Commons“The Patriot” was “conceived as a factual biography of Marion,” the Guardian reported in June 2000. “They couldn’t go ahead,” a source from Sony told them, “once historians had given them chapter and verse on the Swamp Fox” and dark aspects of his conduct.Sculpting the fictional Martin, whom the British nickname “the Ghost,” allowed Mr. Rodat to create an ideal. He’s a stand-in for the patriots who, in the Declaration of Independence, pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.”“A well-regulated militia,” the Second Amendment states, is “necessary to the security of a free state.” The word “regulated” referred not to laws, but to discipline, proper equipment, and training. At the time, militia service was characterized more by drunkenness and disorder than practicing tactics. During a battle in “The Patriot,” an American officer, Colonel Harry Burwell — a cypher for General “Light Horse” Harry Lee with Chris Cooper in the role — scoffs. “Militia,” he says, disgusted by their lack of traditional martial skills.This columnist recalls Burwell’s line drawing laughter in the theater. Yet America’s reliance on citizen-soldiers reflected fears of a standing army that, like the crown’s, could be used to suppress their liberty. Honoring the militia’s historic role prevents the film from feeling stuck in the year of its release.Against Martin’s wishes, his eldest son, Gabriel — the late Heath Ledger — enlists with America’s professional army, accusing his father of cowardice. After the fall of Charlestown in 1780, the Red Coats capture him as a spy and plan his execution. Martin is soon back wielding his tomahawk.Colonel William Tavington is Martin’s sadistic antagonist, embracing “The Butcher” as his nickname. Played by an Englishman, Jason Isaacs, he embodies all the worst qualities of General Sir Banastre Tarleton, a Red Coat accused of war crimes.Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Sir Banastre Tarleton. Walker Art Gallery via Wikimedia CommonsThe British objected to the portrayal of Tavington, and the film faced criticism for showing free Black laborers working on Martin’s plantation. Marion, Pickens, and the other two figures on which Martin was based all owned slaves. The dramatic license sacrificed reality to make “The Patriot” a cleaner story and allowed Mr. Gibson’s character to achieve legendary status. That choice has kept people talking about the film for 25 years, creating more interest in history than any documentary.War movies will always have to make concessions to Hollywood. Armed with this knowledge, Americans can enjoy “The Patriot” as entertainment, and let it spur a desire to meet the real patriots who beat the world’s mightiest empire to secure the independence they celebrate this week.

Mel Gibson’s ‘The Patriot,’ Marking Its 25th Anniversary, Is a Film To Watch — Again — This Independence Day

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