Lisa Haff Modern American History February 18, 2009 The Patriot I believe that the movie had many more inaccuracies than accuracies. It showed us warfare, 1700’s-style. It showed how men used to fight when they stood face-to-face with their muskets, swords, and bayonets. It also did good at depicting the harsh realities that the war presents to many families during the American Revolution. The film showed the heart attacks of families losing their loved ones, and it also showed the anger and wrath that would overcome some families after something like that happened. On the other hand, this film was very exaggerated. First of all, Benjamin Martin had blacks working on his farm with the right to come and go as they please, which is a discrepancy in that time period. In order not to stigmatize the film’s hero, Martin does not own slaves but employs free black workers, probably the only such labor arrangement in colonial South Carolina. There is no way that the slaves would have been freed after the war, and get compensated for their services. Also in the movie there was a depiction of the maroon black community, which was also not accurately portrayed. The camps might have been realistic but the fact that a patriot brought his family to a maroon camp to stay is definitely incorrect. Martin brings his family to a maroon community to hide them from the British, when in reality the slaves are there hiding from the patriots. Another point in the movie that wasn’t portrayed correctly was the amount of loyalists in the movie. At that point in time, the loyalists took up about 1/5 of the population. However, in the movie they only show one loyalist soldier, Captain Wilkins. The methods in the film that the British used were ruthless and very brutal which I think was an exaggeration by Hollywood. I enjoyed watching The Patriot even though many things were over dramatized. It still gave a good lesson in history, and showed the great lengths people are willing to go...