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Monday, April 13, 2009

The Patriot




At the beginning of the American Revolution, Benjamin Martin (Gibson) is a South Carolina veteran of the French and Indian War and a widower raising his seven children on his farm. Gabriel (Ledger), the eldest, is anxious to join the American forces fighting the British in the Revolutionary War. Knowing war from personal experience, Ben tries to discourage his son's ambitions, but his son enlists anyway.

Gabriel returns home two years later, stumbling wounded into the family home and carrying military dispatches. The next day, a military skirmish have the Martins caring for the wounded from both sides. British soldiers - the ruthless Green Dragoons cavalry - arrive and kill the Colonial wounded, burn down the Martin house and arrest Gabriel as a spy, intending to hang him. Ben's next eldest son Thomas (Smith) is shot and killed by the leader of the Green Dragoons, Colonel William Tavington (Isaacs).

Making use of his knowledge of fighting in the wilds, Ben and his two younger sons, Nathan (Morgan) and Samuel (Chafin) set forth to ambush the British column in the woods. They manage to kill most of the soldiers in an ambush and free Gabriel. The boys are horrified at their first glimpse of their father's ferocity. Gabriel rejoins the cause against his father's will again, stating it is his duty as a soldier. Ben decides to join as well, leaving the rest of the children in the care of their aunt Charlotte (Joely Richardson), Ben's sister-in-law.

Continental Army Colonel Harry Burwell (Cooper), having fought alongside Ben in the French and Indian War, asks him to organize a militia designed to keep British General Cornwallis (Wilkinson) in the south until the French navy arrives to assist. French officer Jean Villeneuve (Karyo), is present to help train the militia.

Ben's South Carolina militia uses guerrilla warfare, attacking the British supply lines. To combat the militia, Cornwallis has Tavington track Ben's family to their refuge with Charlotte and burns down her plantation. However, the family escapes, and are led to a safe haven by Gabriel. Gabriel also marries his childhood friend Anne (Brenner). Soon after, Tavington orders Anne and her family, along with all the townspeople, to be burned alive whilst locked in the church.

A grief-stricken Gabriel rides out with others to avenge their loss. During the ensuing fight, Tavington kills Gabriel and escapes. Ben is devastated and his zeal for combat extinguished, but soon returns to the Continentals to avenge his sons, and manages to kill Tavington. The tide of battle quckly turns and Cornwallis is forced to retreat and eventually surrenders.

Martin and his family return to their home to find the militia helping to rebuild it. Occam (Jones) tells Ben, "Gabriel said that if we won the war, we could build a whole new world. Just figured we'd get started right here, with your home." Benjamin smiles



At the beginning of the American Revolution, Benjamin Martin (Gibson) is a South Carolina veteran of the French and Indian War and a widower raising his seven children on his farm. Gabriel (Ledger), the eldest, is anxious to join the American forces fighting the British in the Revolutionary War. Knowing war from personal experience, Ben tries to discourage his son's ambitions, but his son enlists anyway.

Gabriel returns home two years later, stumbling wounded into the family home and carrying military dispatches. The next day, a military skirmish have the Martins caring for the wounded from both sides. British soldiers - the ruthless Green Dragoons cavalry - arrive and kill the Colonial wounded, burn down the Martin house and arrest Gabriel as a spy, intending to hang him. Ben's next eldest son Thomas (Smith) is shot and killed by the leader of the Green Dragoons, Colonel William Tavington (Isaacs).

Making use of his knowledge of fighting in the wilds, Ben and his two younger sons, Nathan (Morgan) and Samuel (Chafin) set forth to ambush the British column in the woods. They manage to kill most of the soldiers in an ambush and free Gabriel. The boys are horrified at their first glimpse of their father's ferocity. Gabriel rejoins the cause against his father's will again, stating it is his duty as a soldier. Ben decides to join as well, leaving the rest of the children in the care of their aunt Charlotte (Joely Richardson), Ben's sister-in-law.

Continental Army Colonel Harry Burwell (Cooper), having fought alongside Ben in the French and Indian War, asks him to organize a militia designed to keep British General Cornwallis (Wilkinson) in the south until the French navy arrives to assist. French officer Jean Villeneuve (Karyo), is present to help train the militia.

Ben's South Carolina militia uses guerrilla warfare, attacking the British supply lines. To combat the militia, Cornwallis has Tavington track Ben's family to their refuge with Charlotte and burns down her plantation. However, the family escapes, and are led to a safe haven by Gabriel. Gabriel also marries his childhood friend Anne (Brenner). Soon after, Tavington orders Anne and her family, along with all the townspeople, to be burned alive whilst locked in the church.

A grief-stricken Gabriel rides out with others to avenge their loss. During the ensuing fight, Tavington kills Gabriel and escapes. Ben is devastated and his zeal for combat extinguished, but soon returns to the Continentals to avenge his sons, and manages to kill Tavington. The tide of battle quckly turns and Cornwallis is forced to retreat and eventually surrenders.

Martin and his family return to their home to find the militia helping to rebuild it. Occam (Jones) tells Ben, "Gabriel said that if we won the war, we could build a whole new world. Just figured we'd get started right here, with your home." Benjamin smiles






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Friday, April 10, 2009

LETTERS OF IWO JIMA










In the present day, Japanese archaeologists explore tunnels on Iwo Jima. They find something in the dirt and the scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944. Private First Class Saigo, a baker conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his platoon are grudgingly digging beach trenches on the island. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison and immediately begins an inspection of the island defenses. He saves Saigo and his friend Kashiwara from a beating for having uttered 'unpatriotic speeches' and orders the men to stop digging trenches on the beach and begin tunnelling defenses into Mount Suribachi.

Later, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper, joins Kuribayashi for dinner. They discuss the grim prospect of no naval support and the fanaticism their fellow officers would show. Kuribayashi evacuates the civilian population of Iwo Jima to mainland Japan. He clashes with some of his senior officers, who do not agree with his strategy of defending inland instead of the beaches; Kuribayashi believes the Americans will take the beaches quickly, and only the mountain defenses will have a better chance for holding out against the enemy.

Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll on the garrison; many die of dysentery, including Kashiwara. The Japanese troops begin using the caves as barracks. Kashiwara's replacement, a young soldier named Superior Private Shimizu, arrives for duty on the island. Saigo and his friends suspect that Shimizu is a spy sent from Kempeitai to report on disloyal soldiers. The first American aerial bombings occur shortly after, causing significant casualties. After the raid, Saigo is sickened when he sees the corpse of a friend, still sitting upright. Another casualty was Jupiter, Baron Nishi's horse, which was also killed by a bomb. The raid forces the Japanese to dig deeper into the volcanic island. The battle for Iwo Jima begins.

As the landings occur, the American troops suffer heavy casualties, but the Japanese beach defenses are quickly overcome, and the attack turns to the defensive positions on Mount Suribachi. Saigo assists the defense by carrying ammunition to machine gunners. When a Japanese machine gunner is killed by a shell from an American ship, Saigo is ordered by the company commander to use his rifle, since the machine gun is damaged. He handles it so clumsily that he is sent to retrieve some machine guns instead. While delivering the request from his company commander to the commander of the Suribachi garrison, Saigo overhears General Kuribayashi radioing orders to retreat northward. The Suribachi commander, however, ignores the order from the general and instead orders Saigo to deliver a message ordering the men of his company to commit suicide. The Japanese soldiers of Saigo's unit commit suicide with grenades, and the company commander shoots himself in the head with a pistol, but Saigo runs away and leaves the cave with Shimizu, convincing him that it is more productive to continue the fight rather than die. The two men flee to friendly lines, but they are accused of deserting Suribachi. They are about to be executed for cowardice when General Kuribayashi appears to stop the punishment, confirming that he had indeed ordered the retreat.

The soldiers from the caves attempt a futile attack against American positions, with the Japanese taking heavy losses. A wounded U.S. Marine is subsequently captured by Nishi's men. He reveals his name to be Sam, and Nishi orders his medic to give him aid despite the Japanese's dwindling medical supplies. Despite their efforts, the Marine dies of his wounds. Nishi reads a letter the American received from his mother.

As a bomb hits Nishi's cave, Nishi is badly wounded and blinded. His men bind his wounds, and Nishi orders them to another position on the island. As a last favor, he asks Lieutenant Okubo to leave him a rifle. After leaving that position, the soldiers hear a distant gunshot from Nishi's cave.

Shimizu divulges to Saigo that he had been dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai. In a flashback, it is revealed that he was discharged because he refused to obey a superior's order to kill a barking dog. He was then reassigned to Iwo Jima. This causes Saigo's attitude towards Shimizu to soften considerably. Shimizu breaks down and fearfully asks Saigo to surrender with him.

Shimizu surrenders to a U.S. Marine patrol and finds himself in the company of another Japanese soldier who had surrendered. One of the American guards, who does not want to be burdened with POWs, later shoots them. The dead soldiers are discovered by the Japanese and Lieutenant Okubo points it out as a lesson for anyone else who wishes to surrender. Saigo, deeply saddened by his death, puts Shimizu's senninbari on his dead body.

Saigo and the remaining survivors find that Kuribayashi's cave is under attack, and a fierce battle rages. They charge through the crossfire, and lose several men, including Lieutenant Okubo. They enter the cave under a storm of American bullets, meeting up with Kuribayashi, who recognizes Saigo. One last attack with all the remaining men is planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to stay behind and destroy all the documents, including his own letters to his family. By this, Kuribayashi saves Saigo's life a third time. Kuribayashi and his remaining troops launch their final attack. Most of Kuribayashi's men are killed, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded.

Kuribayashi's loyal aide Fujita drags him away from the battle. The next morning, Kuribayashi orders his aide to behead him; however, the aide is shot dead by an American marksman as he raises his sword. Saigo appears at this moment, having buried some of the documents in the cave instead of burning them all. Summoning his last reserves of strength, the very weak Kuribayashi asks Saigo to bury him so that nobody will find him. Kuribayashi then draws his souvenir M1911 pistol (In two previous flashbacks, it was revealed to be a gift from a party in the United States before the war, where Kuribayashi was given the pistol as a gift at a ceremony where he was the guest of honor) and shoots himself in the chest. Saigo carries away the dead general and buries his body.

Upon his return, Saigo finds that a patrol of American Marines have claimed Kuribayashi's pistol and Fujita's sword as war trophies. Upon seeing the pistol tucked into a Marine's belt, Saigo swings angrily and wildly at the Americans with his shovel. Too weak to fight properly, Saigo is knocked unconscious with a rifle butt and is taken on to a U.S. aid station on the beach. Awakening a while later, he glimpses the setting sun, with ships in the distance, as well as a U.S. truck, and smiles grimly.

The scene shifts back to the Japanese archaeologists who uncover the bag of letters written by Japanese soldiers on the island, never sent, that Saigo buried in 1945. As the letters fall from the bag, the voices of the fallen Japanese soldiers are heard reading from them.


Thursday, April 2, 2009

troy



troy movie poster Pictures, Images and Photos

King Agamemnon (Brian Cox) of Mycenae is in Thessaly, Greece, with his army looking to expand territory and influence. On the battlefield, Agamemnon's soldiers prepare to engage in combat against the army under the Thessalonian king, Triopas (Julian Glover). Rather than suffer great losses, Triopas agrees to Agamemnon's proposal to settle the matter in the traditional way - through a decisive match between the best fighters of the opposing armies. Achilles (Brad Pitt) is summoned by Agamemnon, and after arriving, easily kills the Thessalonian champion Boagrius (Nathan Jones). Accepting defeat, Triopas presents Achilles with a scepter as a token for his king. But Achilles refuses, saying Agamemnon is not his king.
In Sparta, Prince Hector (Eric Bana) and his young brother Paris (Orlando Bloom) negotiate an end to the war between the outlying kingdom of Troy and Sparta. On the last day of a week-long peace festival, Paris manages to smuggle Helen (Diane Kruger), Menelaus' (Brendan Gleeson) wife, back to Troy with him. Infuriated by Helen's disappearance, Menelaus vows revenge. Meanwhile, Agamemnon (Menelaus' brother), who had for years harbored plans for conquering Troy, decides to use his brother's situation as a justification to invade Troy. He is advised by his general, Nestor (John Shrapnel), to call upon Achilles to fight for the Greeks, insuring they can rally enough troops to the cause. Agamemnon relishes the prospect of gaining complete control over the Aegean Sea by conquering Troy.


Odysseus (Sean Bean) is then sent to Phtia to convince Achilles and his Myrmidons to fight, and finds him training with Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund), his nephew and student. Odysseus says they'll be sailing to Troy in three days, and that this war will never be forgotten. Achilles consults his mother, Thetis (Julie Christie), and she tells him that should he stay, he will find peace, and should he go, he will find glory, but he'll never return. Achilles decides to go to war.

The Greeks land at Troy and take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons kill many Trojans and also desecrate the seaside temple of Apollo, slaying the unarmed priests that reside there. Within the temple, Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight, with Hector outnumbered but allowed to leave. Briseis (Rose Byrne), a member of the Trojan royal family who has chosen to dedicate her life to service to the gods, is captured and taken as a prize to Achilles. However, he treats her with kindness, which makes her initially cautious. They soon become lovers.

Achilles and his Myrmidons do not take part in the next day's fighting because Agamemnon had taken away Briseis, but they watch the events from a distance. With the Trojan army beneath the walls of Troy and the Greek army surrounding it, Paris challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees, knowing he is the better warrior. Agamemnon then decides he will attack afterward anyway, regardless of the outcome. Paris, severely outmatched, is easily defeated. Terrified of dying, he crawls back to his brother's feet. Menelaus approaches and moves to finish Paris, but Hector intervenes and kills Menelaus. A shocked and distraught Agamemnon orders his army to charge the Trojans. The Greeks are easily repelled, mainly because their attack brought them within range of the Trojan archers. At the pleas of Odysseus, who fears seeing the Greeks annihilated, Agamemnon withdraws the troops.



The Trojans launch a surprise attack on the Greek camp at dawn. As the Greeks seem to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears with the Myrmidons, and joins the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector. The Myrmidons are initially surprised by Achilles apparently being outmatched by Hector, and in a quick fight, having his throat cut by the Prince Hector. This energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks. Hector kneels and pulls Achilles' helmet off, and finds it is actually Patroclus(Garrett Hedlund) who he has killed, not Achilles. Grieved at having slain someone so young, Hector gives him a killing blow out of mercy. Both armies agree to end fighting for the day, and Odysseus informs Hector of the boy's identity. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is told by the Myrmidons of his nephew death. They had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles, since he had put on the same armour, and moved in the same way. Later that night, Achilles leads the funeral ceremony, complete with a funeral pyre.



he next day, an enraged Achilles approaches the gates of Troy alone and demands Hector come out and face him. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rites by the winner, which is angrily refused by Achilles. Achilles kills Hector, and then ties the body to the back of his chariot, callously draging it back to the Greek camp. That night, King Priam visits the Greek army's camp to retrieve Hector's body. After an emotional talk given to him by Priam (Peter O'Toole), Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector's body. He lets Priam take Hector's body back, promising him that no Greek will attack Troy for twelve days in order to give time for the proper funeral rites to be performed on the prince, also saying that Hector was the best he'd fought. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well, and gives her the shell necklace Thetis made for him. He later makes amends with Eudorus, and gives him one last order: to take the Myrmidons home.

During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector's death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus. The Greeks leave the horse at the location of their camp, then withdraw to the beach hiding in their ships behind a nearby island. Paris warns Priam about the dangers of the horse, and says they should burn it. However, Priam neglects his warning and is blinded by the priests' talk of the horse being a "peace offering from the Greeks", in order to appease the god Poseidon for a safe passage home during their retreat. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A band of Greeks come out of the horse at night, killing the guards and opening the gates to the city, allowing the main army outside the city to enter. Troy is sacked, and King Priam is killed by Agamemnon.



Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved from Agamemnon's guards by Achilles. Paris finds Achilles, and shoots an arrow that goes straight through Achilles' heel. Crippled, he turns to face him but is hit in the chest by several more arrows, despite fervent pleas from Briseis. The wounds are fatal, and Achilles urges Briseis to join Paris as he flees the city through a secret passage.

After a last disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier. Funeral rituals are performed for him the next morning. The movie ends with Odysseus delivering the final words: If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Glory









Glory is a 1989 drama war film based on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as told from the point of view of its commanding officer, Robert Gould Shaw during the American Civil War. The 54th was one of the first formal units of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African-American men.




The movie begins with newly promoted Captain Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) at the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862. His troops are nearly destroyed and he is trapped between gunfire and cannon fire. Grazed by shrapnel, he falls near a dead soldier and passes out. He is awakened by a black grave digger named John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman). Despite what happened at Antietam, Shaw is appointed commander of the first all black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts. Hesitant, he agrees, with his childhood friend, Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes), as the executive officer. Their first volunteer is another one of Shaw's friends, an educated, literate, free black man named Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher).




They soon have hundreds of men joining the regiment, including John Rawlins, a proud escaped slave named Trip (Denzel Washington), and a young, free black man named Jupiter Sharts (Jihmi Kennedy). Once at camp, Thomas, Rawlins, Trip, and Sharts all share one tent along with a mute drummer boy. Shaw soon learns of a Confederate proclamation that any black caught bearing arms against the Confederacy will immediately be returned to a state of slavery. Any black captured wearing a Federal uniform will summarily be hanged. Shaw expected over half the men to run, but when day broke not one left.


Shaw then appoints a tough Irish-American sergeant, Mulcahy (John Finn), to properly train the men for the battles ahead. Shaw also becomes much more strict; when the guns arrive, he makes Sharts, who already has the best shooting skills among the enlisted men, shoot while he fires toward the sky right behind Sharts's head to prove the point that loading, aiming and firing by yourself is much easier than loading, aiming and firing in battle. Though disgusted, Forbes carries out Shaw's request to train the men properly.


Meanwhile, Thomas finds life in camp difficult as he is the weakest and slowest of the men, and is constantly harassed by Trip for being educated like a white man. Trip himself has difficulty adjusting to camp life, always at odds with the other soldiers, especially Rawlins. One night he leaves camp to get some shoes, as his old shoes are worn out and the quartermaster has refused to issue proper supplies to the black regiment. Trip is caught and presumed a deserter by the officers. Shaw has him flogged in front of the entire regiment, proceeding even after seeing that his back is severely scarred from floggings as a slave. Shaw, after learning the truth from Rawlins, finally forces the quartermaster to give the men new socks and shoes.


Soon, the men are assembled to receive long-awaited pay. However, upon learning that they will receive a $10 monthly wage rather than the $13 paid to white soldiers because they are a black regiment, the men, at Trip's provocation, tear up their wage sheets. In a show of solidarity with his soldiers, Shaw follows suit. However, spirits rise as the men receive uniforms. Jupiter is especially happy, long having desired a "blue suit". Before leaving Massachusetts, the regiment, dressed in new uniforms, file in review through the streets of Boston, passing Frederick Douglass and Governor Andrew in the reviewing stand.


During the subsequent trip south by steamer, Shaw appoints Rawlins Sergeant Major, making him the highest ranking enlisted man in the regiment. Shaw soon learns that there is another all black regiment called the "contraband"; more rabble than soldiers; looting and attacking civilians whenever the opportunity arises. After looting the town of Darien, Georgia, Colonel James Montgomery (Cliff De Young), a higher-ranking officer in charge of the contraband regiment, orders Shaw to provide assistance in burning the houses. Shaw initially resists the order but, to save himself from court-martial (which would leave his men to Montgomery's command), reluctantly capitulates. Likewise, the troops, although disgusted with their fellows' craven behavior, carry out their orders dutifully, well aware their commander has no choice in the matter.


Shaw and his men soon become frustrated that they have been assigned to manual labor and not allowed to fight in any battles; the troops grow weary of the tedious work and chafe at the taunting of white soldiers bound for the battlefield. After Shaw approaches the area commander with a threat to expose illegal activities undertaken by his command, his request that the regiment be allowed to fight is finally granted. In the Battle of Sol Legare Island, the troops push back a Confederate attack. Thomas saves Trip from a Confederate soldier and suffers a bullet wound; however, he refuses to leave the regiment.


Shortly thereafter, Shaw volunteers the 54th Massachusetts to be the lead regiment in the frontal assault on Fort Wagner. On the night before the attack, the men sing at the camp fire to raise their spirits for the imminent battle. The next day, the 54th Massachusetts is honored by white soldiers and officers on the march toward Fort Wagner. They then charge the fort under heavy enemy fire, and take shelter in the sand dunes. At nightfall, Shaw leads the men in a charge across the remaining beach. With the Rebels on the top of the fort firing down on them, Shaw turns to see the American flag down. He gets up and attempts to rally the men forward up the hill but is quickly shot and killed. Trip, formerly reluctant to bear the colors of a nation that regards him as a second-class citizen, gets up, lifts the flag, and rallies the men. He is shot, but holds up the flag, even while dying. The remaining men, led by Forbes and Rawlins, charge the Rebels, slowly making their way to the top and through the entrance of the fort, only to meet the waiting Confederate guns. The scene ends in the smoke from a hail of cannon fire.


The film concludes with the Confederates still holding the fort, while slain men of the 54th Massachusetts, including Shaw and Trip, are buried by the Confederates in a mass grave (with their shoes removed). The 54th lost half its men that day but earned glory, sparking the creation of many more black regiments. By the end of the war, there were some 187,000 African-American men in uniform, a fact which President Abraham Lincoln considered instrumental in securing victory in the war. Fort Wagner was never taken during the war, though the CSA forces eventually abandoned it.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Braveheart




In A.D. 1280 Edward I of England, known as "Longshanks", has occupied much of Scotland, and his oppressive rule there leads to the deaths of William's Wallace father and brother. Years later, after Wallace has been raised abroad by his uncle, the Scots continue to live under the harsh thumb of Longshanks' cruel laws. Wallace returns, intent on living as a farmer and avoiding involvement in the ongoing "troubles." Wallace rekindles a romance with his childhood friend Murron after showing her the carefully preserved thistle she gave him as a child, and the two marry in secret to avoid the primae noctis decree the King has set forth. But after Wallace attacks a group of English soldiers attempting to rape her, the village Sheriff prevents the escape of and publicly cuts Murron's throat unbeknown to Wallace who believed her to have escaped. In retribution, an enraged Wallace, with the assistance of his fellow villagers, slaughters the English garrison. He then cuts the sheriff's throat with the same dagger that killed Murron.
Knowing that the local English lord will retaliate, Wallace and his men enter his castle dressed in English uniforms and burn it down. In response to Wallace's exploits, the commoners of Scotland rise in revolt against England.

As his legend spreads, hundreds of Scots from the surrounding clans volunteer to join Wallace's militia. Wallace leads his army through a series of successful battles against the English, including the Battle of Stirling and sacking the city of York. However, he is betrayed by the Scottish nobility and defeated at the Battle of Falkirk.

He goes into hiding, fighting a guerrilla war against English forces, and personally murders the two Scottish nobles who betrayed him at Falkirk. Meanwhile, Princess Isabelle, whose husband Prince Edward (Longshanks's son and heir) ignores her, meets with Wallace as the English King's emissary. She and Wallace share a tryst, during which she conceives Wallace's child. Still believing there is some good in the nobility of his country, Wallace eventually agrees to meet with the Bruce. He is caught in a trap set by the elder Bruce and the other nobles, beaten unconscious, and handed over to the English Crown. Robert the Bruce is enraged by his father's treachery, and disowns him forever.

In London, Wallace is brought before the English magistrates and tried for high treason. He denies the charges, declaring that he had never accepted Edward as his King. The court responds by sentencing him to be "purified by pain." Later, in a London square, William Wallace is tortured, being hanged, racked, and disemboweled. The magistrate offers him a quick death in exchange for a plea for mercy. Awed by Wallace's courage, the Londoners watching the execution begin to yell for mercy to be given. William signals to the magistrate that he wishes to speak. Using the last strength in his body, he cries, "Freedom!" and turns his head, seeing an image of Murron in the crowd smiling at him as he is beheaded.

Some time later, Robert the Bruce takes control of the remaining Scottish army and faces a ceremonial line of English troops at the fields of Bannockburn. Cheering Wallace's name, Robert the Bruce and the Scots charge the stunned English lines and win their freedom.