Quote:
Originally Posted by Liam
and i think you need to watch the film again because i think for aussie his scottish accent is superb. your just annoyed they never used a scottish guy for the part. who did you expect them to get? sean connery?
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firstly I do not need to watch the film again
...and I am not being funny here but can I ask how often you hear a scottish accent ?...daily weekly ?..and if so is the accent the accent you would here from that part of scotland ?...I doubt its not..and the accent from that part certainley does not have an australian twang about it !
and why would I be annoyed ?...because they didnt use a scottish actor?..get real...it could have been played by many a non scots actor who could have probably done the accent better...
and the guerilla campaign was started by andrew murray who wallace joined and eventually took over his army when murray fell at stirling bridge - murray was hardly acknowledged/ if at all for his commitment.
wallace turned to guerilla tactics after his defeat at the battle of falkirk where wallace showed no great military leadership again trying to use schlitrons against the english longbow and his army were slaughtered.
he resigned his position as guardian of scotland where he then ran off trying to raise a foreign army against the english and when he returned he found that he had few friends or supporters left...
hardly someone to be proud of...stealing the glory, running off and then coming back to realise that he had not many friends left..
as for the made up story well where do you start ?
1) The reason why it is called the Battle of Stirling is because it was fought on Stirling Bridge, in mud. The English had to file down into small ranks so they could cross the bridge, while William Wallace came in with full plate armour, not kilts, and butchered them with the rest of the Scots.
2) Princess Isabella was a 13-year-old girl living in France when William Wallace was executed in 1305. She didn't marry Prince Edward until 1308, and the marriage took place in Boulogne, not London.
3) Malcolm Wallace had three sons: John, William, and Malcolm. He was not killed in a minor scuffle with the English. He, in fact, fought for several years with the English in order to free John de Baliol from the tower of London. At the time, Baliol was the rightful heir to the Scottish crown, and that was actually William's reason for fighting the English. Robert the Bruce was the one who actually liberated Scotland, right?
4) The voice-over at the beginning of the film tells us that Malcolm Wallace was a commoner with his own lands and constant references are made through-out the film to William being a commoner. However this is a common historical myth. Malcolm Wallace was in fact born as a minor noble and became a knight, as was William. They were poor as noble families went but were still infinitely more privileged than the commoners of the day.
5) In the opening scene of the film a caption at the bottom of the screen tells us it is Scotland 1280 AD and the voice-over tells us the King of Scotland had died without an heir etc. But Alexander III of Scotland did not die until 1286 AD.
6) The film hints that Wallace is the father of Isabella's child (and the ancestor of all future kings and queens of England) but Isabella's baby (the future Edward III) was born in 1312, seven years after Wallace's execution in 1305.
7) The title of the Duke of York did not yet exist in the 13th century - it was instituted only later and was normally used only by a younger son of the King.
8) Wallace - Sir William Wallace - was a noble, not a scruffy tribesman as shown in this film. As such, his trial (such as it was) and execution were detailed in the court records of the day and they still exist. He was dragged the three and a half miles from the Tower to Aldgate chained (not tied) to a piece of fencing, not on a wheeled cart, and he was never 'racked', just hanged vertically. He was never offered a chance to recant his beliefs in exchange for a quicker, more merciful death. While hanging, still alive, he was emasculated ('his privy parts cut away') and his genitals burnt on a brazier in front of him. The executioner then slit open his abdomen and disemboweled him, then his chest was cut open and his heart torn out. He was never allowed to speak, was not tied to a flat table and was beheaded after he was dead. The film gets all of this wrong.
9) At the battle of Falkirk, the Irish soldiers fighting for Edward change sides at the last moment and go over to fight with the Scots. In reality, there were no Irish troops present at the battle. The only troublemakers amongst the English army were the contingent of Welsh bowmen who showed a reluctance to fight Wallace but this was more out of fear rather than sympathy for the Scots.
10) Scots did not wear the kilt until the 17th century. They wore the saffron shirt prior to that (in Braveheart's time).
11) Prince Edward was not a mincing homosexual stereotype. His homosexuality did not become obvious until after he became king and started taking male 'favourites'. Before then he was regarded as the perfect prince.
12) In the movie the Scots sack the English city of York. Actually they sacked the city of Carlisle.
I mean if your going to do something then it should be done right... I think the truth would have made a far more interesting story - surely you can agree to that..