The
movie follows Benjamin
Martin (Mel
Gibson), whose life intersects with the Revolutionary War. He had fought
bravely, but brutally in the French and Indian War. He had since married, started
a family and tried to put some of those actions behind him.
It's 1776 and Benjamin Martin's wife has recently died, leaving him a widowed
father of seven children. He is called to the South Carolina State Assembly.
He listens to his friend Colonel
Harry Burwell (Chris
Cooper) ask for South Carolina's support for colonial self-government.
Martin supports his friend's convictions, but wishes to stay with his children.
He votes against supporting the Continental Army on the grounds of not wanting
to send someone else to fight, when he himself is unwilling. Gabriel
(Heath
Ledger), Benjamin's eighteen year old son enlists against his father's
wishes.
In 1778, the war literally comes to the Martins' front yard. Gabriel arrives
one night as a wounded dispatch carrier. Later that same night, skirmishing
spills out on the Martin's farm. The next morning the Martins are caring for
the wounded on both sides when a British detachment arrives. Soon after Colonel
William Tavington (Jason
Isaacs) and his Green Dragoons arrive.
Colonel Tavington orders the Continental wounded to be shot, Gabriel arrested
as a spy and the farm burned and destroyed. Thomas,
Benjamin's fifteen year old son, makes the ultimate sacrifice in the attempt
to help his older brother escape British custody. After the British leave, Benjamin
takes his sons Nathan
and Samuel,
aged fourteen and thirteen and frees Gabriel from British detainment.
Benjamin takes his family to the plantation of his sister-in-law, Charlotte
Selton (Joely
Richardson. Gabriel leaves mmediately to rejoin the war against the
wishes of his father, who now follows his son to war. Colonel Burwell gives
Benjamin a field command. Gabriel is placed under his command and they call
up the South Carolina militia. They are joined by Major
Jean Villeneuve (Tchéky
Karyo), a French officer that volunteered to train the militia. They
enlist both inexperienced farmers and fellow veterans of the French and Indian
War.
Benjamin now begins a successful campaign of harassing the supply lines of General
Charles Cornwallis (Tom
Wilkinson) by employing guerrilla tactics. Finally, Colonel Tavington
is able to capture some of his men, but Martin makes a fool out of Cornwallis
and secures their release. As a result, Cornwallis approves of some brutal tactics
by Tavington in order to bring Martin in. This leads to final showdown between
Tavington and Martin during a decisive victory for the Continentals.
