I don’t expect this discussion to be finished tonight, not even this week.
For background, I just watched it for the first time all the way to the end. It took courage for me because I don’t like the battle scenes, blood and gore.
But I did see so many correlations to our forefathers fighting the American Revolution, and even the Civil War.
I’m left with William Wallace’s war cry …”FREEDOM”!
So what does that really mean?
Freedom to chose a product on Amazon that is most likely made outside America, or freedom to express yourself as an individual without persecution? Or freedom from anyone telling you that you must follow their lead so you can “win”…
There are so many thoughts to reflect on from watching this movie.
I would like others who have seen the movie to give their thoughts.
There’s a Scottish/ Celtic mentality that made its way to the CSA’s “Lost Cause” idea that the southerners were more honorable for standing up to aggression while outnumbered. The mentality influenced the philosophy of Frank Orr’s book Tough Guys of Pro Hockey: that big strong guys like Gordie Howe were tough, sure, but the even tougher guys were the smaller, weaker guys who were willing to get in fights that they knew they’d probably lose, just to send the message to opponents that cheap shots would cost at least a punch in the face even if they won the fight. The mentality is demonstrated in the beginning of Braveheart when William’s father Malcolm Wallace is discussing with other Scottish patriots the prospect of war against the sassenachs. Someone else says that they can’t defeat the English. Malcolm replies, “We don’t have to defeat them, we just have to fight them.”