The Patriot

Late 18th Century Mel Gibson is a widower raising seven kids, Gabriel the oldest is anxious to join the American forces fighting the Brits in the war for independence. Against his father's wishes Gabriel does join up only to return home wounded as he is carrying dispatches between commanders. The war has come to their piece of the world and the family entire, gets caught up in it. Mel's second son is killed trying to free Gabriel as he is taken prisoner which forces Mel to first free his son and then join up. Mel takes the battle to the Brits leading his rag tag band of farmers and ex-Indian fighters as the Americans defeat the British and he gets his revenge on the one who killed his son.

Factual error: When Benjamin is handing a store clerk some money, he is giving him a $5 bill with Abraham Lincoln on it. This happened more than 80 years before he was president. And they didn't even use dollars during the Revolutionary war. They would have used British pounds.

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Colonel William Tavington: Kill me before the war is over, will you? It appears that you are not the better man.
Benjamin Martin: You're right. My sons were better men.

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Trivia: By the time Heath Ledger won this role, he was flat broke. He recalled, 'It came to the point where I had like, no money.' He was practically living on Ramen noodles by that time. This was because he 'got nothing offers to do these teen movies and television sitcoms', and he refused to do them due to the 'very little depth' of the scripts. By the time he was accepted for The Patriot, he said later, 'I guess I put myself in a situation where I didn't belong. But saying no turned out to be more valuable than saying yes.'

Allister Cooper, 2011

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Question: At the end of the movie, Martin stabs Tavington in the stomach, and then in the throat. How does he know Tavington is really dead this time? Earlier in the film, Tavington pretended to be dead twice after Martin's sons shot him.

Answer: Guns were less powerful during Revolutionary times and the wounds were more survivable. Deep and ripping knife stabs to areas like the abdomen and the neck area are more likely to be fatal. Tavington may not die instantly, but he would probably bleed out and/or bleed internally fairly quickly.

raywest

Would being stabbed in the stomach, and in the throat have been enough to kill a person as tough as Tavington?

Absolutely. A deep stab to the stomach/intestinal area would be very deadly even today. Being stabbed directly in the throat would kill someone very fast due to a lack of air and inhaling blood into the lungs.

LorgSkyegon

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