The Patriot

This historical drama depicts the story of an American colonist, nominally loyal to the British Crown, who is reluctantly swept into the American Revolutionary War. After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War (1753–63), Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with war, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son, now serving under his command. The film is notorious for its historical inaccuracies and romanticizing white patriotism. It obscures the question of Martin's potential loyalist leanings, which characterized planters in York County. Slaves are absent, with free blacks working Martin's plantation.