Continuity mistake: Near the beginning when the boy is waiting for the men to return and he has the bucket of water, you hear the water slosh but the scrawny boy runs so effortlessly with it and you never hear it slosh again. Then when he is at the fence with his back to them, you see the bottom of the bucket is wet, but there's no water in it. (00:09:30)
Continuity mistake: During the funeral for Wallace's father and brother, various people change positions. Murron starts out in front of her mother, frame left, then is in front of her father, frame right, then is back in front of her mother. Campbell and Hamish start out beside Wallace, jump to about 18 apart, then behind Wallace, then back to about 18 inches apart. (00:10:40)
Deliberate mistake: In the funeral scene of Wallace's father and brother, the little girl picks a flower for young Wallace. Look closely when she picks the flower- its already been cut. [This was to make it easier for the little girl to pick it so not to hurt herself on the thorns.]. (00:11:20)
Continuity mistake: At the wedding scene near the beginning of the film, Wallace challenges Hamish to throw a large rock at him. He throws the rock, and in slow motion the rock is clearly on Wallace's left side; he even leans a little to his right as the rock starts to pass by on his left. But in the next angle the rock is very clearly on his right. (00:21:10)
Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the wedding party scene, when the Scott shrugs off the English soldier who is taking his wife, you can see a spotlight covered with a blue tarp, behind his head. (00:23:55)
Visible crew/equipment: In the rock throwing scene, after the rock passes Wallace's head, a crew member in a blue baseball cap walks on screen to the top left. (00:24:30)
Revealing mistake: When the Scott gets shot in the buttocks during Stirling, there's a lot of blood already on his leg as soon as the arrow hits him. (00:25:05)
Continuity mistake: When Hamish and Wallace are throwing stones, Hamish gets hit on the head. When he falls to the floor his head is bleeding, but in the next shot there is no blood and a very faint cut. (00:25:30)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the rock-throwing-competition scene between William and Hamish, as William is helping Hamish up there is an openly-bleeding cut on Hamish's forehead where William hit him with the small rock. Two seconds later the cut has sealed itself and there is no blood anywhere on his forehead. (00:25:40)
Continuity mistake: When Wallace arrives at the home of Murron to invite her for a ride in the rain, the mother's head covering changes several times between shots. Sometimes it has the yellow fringe close to her face and other times it does not have the fringe at all. (00:29:40)
Continuity mistake: Right after Wallace has been riding with Murron when MacClannough and some other men gets to Wallace's, as MacClannough says "You want to stay out of the trouble?". You can see Wallace standing with his arms to his waist. When it cuts his arms are down. (00:32:35)
Continuity mistake: When Smythe and his two men watches Murron and Wallace as they walk away from each other, you can see Smythe sitting and both of his men are standing in front of him. When it cuts, both his men are standing behind him, and he is suddenly wiping his mouth. (00:39:35)
Continuity mistake: When Wallace tries to escape from the English with his wife, not knowing that she has been captured and executed, he is seen running through the woods screaming her name... As he's running he has a sword in his right hand. During the course of three or four camera shots, the sword he is holding magically disappears and reappears as different cameras shoot him. Then it reappears and he digs it into the ground as he takes off the English soldier's uniform that he stole. (00:42:35)
Visible crew/equipment: When Wallace captures the fort of the noble who killed his wife, he pushes said noble down a hill before putting him to the post and slitting his throat. If you watch when the noble is pushed, he rolls over and the cape uncovers the back of his costume. You can see blue pants that look like jeans under his costume. (00:45:40)
Visible crew/equipment: When Wallace throws one of the archers down from the tower, as he falls on the roof below him. Look down to the left of the screen. You should be able to see a man in a dark grey shirt standing beside a camera. (00:48:55)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Wallace surrenders to the local magistrate, after Wallace has struck the English soldier that was holding the reigns of the horse, a second soldier attacks the horse with a spear. The spearhead is seen as the soldier starts the attack, after the cut the spearhead is gone, before it strikes the horse. The un-headed spear then hits the harness of the horse where it sticks as the horse rears, and the harness moves from the front of the horse's neck between the legs of the horse to the side, somehow passing through the raised legs of the horse. (00:49:20)
Revealing mistake: When Hamish throws one of the English soldiers off his stand and he flies on to some wooden spikes, you can actually see the spikes bend as he falls between them. However when it cuts the man is suddenly impaled by one of the spikes. (00:49:30)
Revealing mistake: When Wallace walks up to the man who killed Murron and faces him. Look at the man behind Wallace and the man. You can actually see a car passing behind his head in the distance. (00:50:20)
Continuity mistake: Just before Wallace picks up the archer to throw him over the ledge, you can the archer has a tin looking hat around his head with part of his suit covering his head below the hat. In the shot from in front of the ledge when Wallace is throwing him off the cap has now disappeared before he has been thrown. The following shot as he is falling its a bit hard to see his cap but you see it come off. (00:50:45)
Continuity mistake: When Wallace throws the first archer over the wall, he comes up to him from the archer's right and picks him up, but in the following shot Wallace is on his left. (00:50:55)
Chosen answer: Just like he said, it would dull his wits and not leave him fully lucid the next day when he had to face the torture.
LorgSkyegon
He wanted his full awareness so he didn't accidentally yell for mercy.