“Braveheart” has a reputation in the history community for its utter lack of historical accuracy. Overall, it just wasn’t the level of film that I would expect from a fairly recent Best Picture winner. However, the film almost feels like it was made in the 1960s rather than the 1990s in how melodramatic it is. The battle scenes are epic, having a feat of scale and Gibson certainly can come up with lots of creative ways for people to die. The score and the scenery (of the Irish countryside shot by Oscar winner John Toll) are great and Gibson’s performance is serviceable, with his execution scene being genuinely moving. Its treatment of its female characters is fairly abysmal and the King’s son, the future Edward II, is portrayed as effeminate and hinted at being gay with seemingly negative connotations. (In the film, the king remarks, “The trouble with Scotland is that it’s full of Scots.” Perhaps the trouble with “Braveheart” is that it isn’t.) The film has pacing issues and can even seem boring in between the battle sequences. Mel Gibson’s terrible Scottish accent has been much maligned since the film’s release and it lives up to its terrible reputation. While the battle scenes are incredibly impressive, the rest of “Braveheart” left something to be desired on my first watch. But the film made over $210 million worldwide and was the 13th highest-grossing film of 1995. Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it “an action epic with the spirit of the Hollywood swordplay classics and the grungy ferocity of ‘The Road Warrior.’” There were, of course, detractors including Richard Schickel of “Time Magazine”. Most critics liked the film, though even then, many people pointed out the total lack of historical accuracy. “Braveheart” tells the tale of William Wallace and how he led a Scottish army against King Edward I of England in the First War of Scottish Independence in the late-13th century, or at least it claims to. But how does “Braveheart” hold up 25 years later, as a film and as a Best Picture winner? I was only a year old when the film was released and made it this far in life without seeing it, so I decided to look at it with fresh eyes and explore its legacy.
The film even led to increased tourism in Scotland as moviegoers wanted to visit the places they had seen in the film.
The three-hour-long epic set the stage for other epics to follow and is remembered fondly by many who have nostalgia for cinema of the 1990s. The film received mostly positive reviews and made millions of dollars, eventually going on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, amongst others. “Braveheart” was released in cinemas across America 25 years ago on May 24, 1995.
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