I loved it. Soon after my first viewing, we went and saw it again. To my surprise and delight, it was actually BETTER the second time! I've seen it four times since then (bringing my total to 6), and every time it gets better. Even knowing the outcome (and every line in the movie), I still get chills when William screams "the word."

During the third quarter of my sophomore year (around Feb. 96), my history teacher's mother died. He was gone for a week. Our substitute, a great man, told us that if we were good, he would show us Braveheart on Friday. You can imagine how excited I was, not only to skip history for a day, but to actually get to see Braveheart in school!! Since history was 5th period, we started watching Braveheart during lunch 4th period. Even with this much time, we still only got to the horse charge at Stirling.

The next Monday, our real teacher was back, and he wouldn't let us watch the rest of the movie (he said we didn't have time, but he's full of crap). In the first few days of the next week, we learned that the sub was in trouble for showing us the movie. We were furious, and five of us went searching for the real story. It turns out that a parent was upset that he showed a movie with a rape scene in it. A rape scene?!? A rape scene?!? The parent was referring to the part when Smythe tries to rape Murron. This scene showed no nudity, no violence (relative to the rest of the film), and lasted all of four seconds. Once this was explained to the principal, our sub was no longer in trouble. He was the best substitute teacher I've ever had

A few months later, three weeks before the end of school, our history teacher told us that he was going to show us Dr. Zhivago in class. I politely asked him if we could watch Braveheart instead, since we hadn't finished it before. I made the point that it, too, was a historical film, and that it had just won best picture and four other Academy Awards. He told me, and I quote, that Braveheart was "just a pimple" compared to Dr. Zhivago, and that Zhivago was "10 times the movie Braveheart is." The fury rumbled in my soul. I argued feverishly with him about how Braveheart is, and always will be, the best movie ever made. The arguement lasted several minutes past the end of class, and I was nearly late for my next class. It didn't work. We watched Dr. Zhivago.

No matter what anyone ever says, I know in my heart that Braveheart is the best movie I will ever see.

P.S. Braveheart is 50 times the movie Dr. Zhivago is.

My ancestry is Scottish and my wife is a Murdoch, a sept of the MacPherson clan, so it didn't take much prodding to get us into the theater to see this wonderful film. We were both filled with so much emotion when we left, that we didn't say a word until we had reached our car, parked some four blocks away. Only Schindler's List has had such an impact on me prior to Braveheart. I can't say which particular scene was most compelling, but Wallace's speech to the clans at Stirling was certainly one of the most stirring moments in the film.

Since that time, we have seen the movie four times, three as a family (I have four children--Iain, Addie, Meghan, and Colin). In addition, my children and I attended a memorial for the Children of Dunblane where all of the pipe bands in our area played "Scotland the Brave" and "Amazing Grace," and where a wonderful gentleman read some poetry by Robert Burns. What a fantastic experience for us as my children are now convinced that their ancestors and countrymen are heros.

Well, I suspect that I could write much more, but I will restrain myself for now, with only one final note. My grandfather, who fought with the Allies during World War 1, could never quite reconcile the fact that he was fighting side by side with the English. One of his favorite sayings to us as children was, "Scotland is for beauty, Ireland is for wit, Wales is for water, and England is for shit." I hope not to offend anyone with that phrase, but it puts my feelings upon exiting the movie Braveheart into a much clearer perspective.

My only intention is to say Braveheart has affected me in a way only one other movie has done before it. After the first viewing in the theater, I was ectremely curious to find out more about it. I also bought the soundtrack (cd AND cassette)! When it was released to the video stores a friend dubbed it from laserdisc to vhs for me and I've been absorbing every scene ever since! The passion and action meld to make it a movie I can't watch enough.

My eyes STILL well up when Mel as William Wallace yells "FREEDOM!!!" at his torture/execution. Very powerful stuff!

Thanx for hearing me out!
Scotland the Brave!

What a time to live it was! I am sorry Robert the Bruce was depicted in the movie as a bit of a weak character (in the sense of his convictions) as he wasn't at all like that in real life. As a movie it had everything. Definitely legend material.

all the best,

gina.

The first (and every subsequent time) that I saw Braveheart, I had to leave before seeing the last ten minutes of he film. Just about the time that they try to hang Wallace the first time, I kept thinking of the very vivid and grotesque description of what actually happens when all we see is his head during the death scenes.... I couldn't do it. Knowing what the unseen people were doing with the hooks and knives was too much. I haven't seen the entire scene through yet!

Robin

Well, I must say we were absolutely flabbergasted to see what the crew had done to the old ruin of Trim Castle. It was like a time-slip. The broken remains had been restored to a full-size brand-new castle with wood, paper maché and all sorts of other materials replacing the missing pieces. It was the final day of construction and security was not very tight which gave me a chance to take a few shots of the work in progress. Principal photography was to begin the next day and - you may have guessed - I returned every day until we had to go back to Germany about a week later.

During the filming the whole town was sealed off by security, so unfortunately, I did not get close to Mr. Gibson or any of the other stars. Trim stood in for all the scenes depicting Edinburgh and York in the film. I remember a particularly strange incident. One evening we returned to Mullingar after the shooting had ended for the day. When we passed the car park of the castle we could see members of the Irish Army dressed in medieval English soldier's clothes entering a modern bus to take them off the location. It looked quite funny at the time but had a bit of a disillusioning effect when we saw the same people on the big screen about a year later.

Also some of the wider camera angles of the "City Gate of York" and the meeting place for Wallace and the Princess were chosen quite cleverly. Had the camera been turned only slightly to the left, the audience would have seen the main Trim - Dublin road and a set of comparably modern buildings. By the way: the battle scenes were filmed in a place called Ballymore Eustace - not far from Dublin's Airport. It's amazing what they can do with a camera!

Anyway, when we saw the film in the cinema I was as deeply moved by it as most other people were. In fact, I bought a copy and have seen it numerous times since. Having witnessed a small part of the location shooting adds extra value to it for me. However, anyone who wishes to learn more about the historical truth of Wallace's life should not take the plot too seriously. Film as an optical medium is excused for having to compress time, but there is little historical accuracy in this particular case...which, anyway, still leaves us with one of the best films ever made!

Best regards from Germany
Michael J. Schneider

It reminds me heavily of a similar death scene in my favorite comic book which is called Elfquest. Much like Braveheart, the forth book in the series is about brutal warfare (between elves and trolls. The prize: A giant palace where all elvin spirits are said to return one day.), and in the scene a warrior elf named Vaya, had been captured in battle by the evil troll king. In the throne chamber the king threatens to cut her digits, and then her limbs off, one-by-one if she doesn't tell him the elves war plans. Knowing that he'll kill her anyways, Vaya grabs a dagger from one of the guards and lunges at the king. She doesn't get far, for she is quickly run through by the guards spears, but she is still not dead. The outraged king looks down over her as her life seeps away, and this narration is what appears at the bottom of the page:

"All her life, Vaya has lived in the shadow of the frozen mountains. Now, the shadow fades beneath her, and she sees with new eyes, that which she has fought for-----and won!"

Then she dies.

The resemblance lies in the fact that I believe, William Wallace, after death, went on to a better place where he could once again be with Murron(sp?) and watch over his beloved Scotland forever.