Braveheart (1995)

When you have a child born in 1994, you don't get to see all the movies of 1995.  Years later, you get around to the cleanup.  Start with the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as Best Director, Best Cinematography, etc.

Mel Gibson plays William Walllace, the common matter fighter leader of 13th century Scotland.  We start when he is young, seeing the horrors inflicted on his friends and family by the English invaders.  As he grows to be a fighting man, the dreaded invaders kill his wife Marron as well in graphic fashion after she had the nerve to fight back.

This of course is too much and Wallace leads a commoners' rebellion and wins a battle.  But can he lead this bunch against the King's armies?

I can see how many men call this their favorite movie.  Like The Godfather or The Shawshank Redemption, you've got a story of a regular man put in intolerable conditions, personally harmed and fighting and winning against a much stronger foe.

The big screen treatment never looked as good here.  Like Lawrence of Arabia or the Lord of the Rings (also a regular man put in intolerable conditions...) the sweeping vistas and mountaintop shots are very appealing to watch.

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