The Patriot Movie Analysis Essay Sample

The movie, The Patriot, is critically known for being a compellingly accurate movie when it comes to historical terms, especially regarding the military aspects of the film. There is, however, one underlying component of the movie that is often overlooked, slavery. The Patriot inaccurately portrays African Americans and slavery in the American Revolution. The movie The Patriot fails to properly represent the experiences of slaves and overall glosses over their presence in the Revolution, as well as showing a dulled version of how people of color were really treated. A quote from our textbook summed up the true “The sharpest irony of the American Revolution was that Great Britain offered enslaved blacks more opportunities than did the United States.” 

The movie is set in the Southern Theater of the American Revolution, specifically Charleston, South Carolina. This is important to note because it is well known that the Southern part of what now is America had particularly strong racial prejudices against slaves and African Americans. Perhaps greatest example of this discrimination is embodied with an event that took place in 1775. On this year white authorities in Charleston executed a man named Thomas Jeremiah, who was a free man of color and was the wealthiest black man in North America. His supposed crime was telling slaves that British troops were coming “to help the poor Negros.” Thomas Jeremiah was hanged later that year.   One can further disintegrate the historical factuality of this movie by examining various scenes. The film has one scene in which a South Carolinian slave reads a proclamation that was issued by George Washington. This proclamation stated that all slaves who are to join the Patriot cause would gain their freedom In actuality this is false, South Carolina was one of two states that did not allow any African Americans to serve.  Viewers should be wary of these fallacies.

The British and their treatment of slaves is often overlooked, not only in this film but also in history. A prime example of this more progressive treatment towards slaves is the Dunmore Proclamation. In the November of 1775, the royal governor from Britain, who was ruling over Virginia announced that all slaves who join the war efforts for the British would gain their freedom in return. This governor, John Murray (Lord Dunmore), started a movement in which almost 1,000 slaves joined the Loyalist cause. These slaves eventually formed the “Ethiopian Regiment” and went on to establish themselves as a formidable factor throughout the war.  These factors, including the Dunmore Proclamation, are hardly mentioned throughout the entire film. 

The Patriot describes a type of world in which slaves and African Americans get along quite well with their masters. This representation is altogether deceiving, as this is not historically correct. There is a certain scene in the film that fuels this deception. The scene takes place in Charleston and involves freed slaves. These slaves invite their old master to come to stay with them. There are many problems with this. Foremost, it would never be socially acceptable for a white man to stay at a black family’s home, especially in the south. This scene comes off as incredibly misleading because the chances of a free slave letting their previous master stay in their home are slim. This master owned them like cattle, and now we are expected to believe that they welcome this master into their home like a family member? While this thought may be more comfortable for the average viewer, it simply is not realistic. If a movie stands to be acclaimed for its historical accuracy, it should not blatantly misrepresent the relationship between former slave-masters and their counterparts of color.

Historically, British policy scared and terrified the Americans, especially those in the south. What would a slave do with a gun? Would they come back and destroy my plantation, or even kill me? These were question questions that lingered in slave owners’ minds. The Patriot fails to demonstrate this fear in the film, even though this was a key part of the war and a great concern that spread across the thirteen colonies. A quote from America: A Narrative History states “The terrifying prospect of British troops arming slaves persuaded many-fence straddling southerners to join the Patriot cause. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina said that the British decision to arm slaves did more to create “an eternal separation between Great Britain and the colonies than any other expedient.’”  For many southern whites, the Dunmore Proclamation was what they needed to hear to join the Patriot cause.