Part One:

I feel as though even if I had the bravest heart I still would be incapable of tolerating this film.  Seems a little harsh- I'm aware- but hey, it's better to be honest right? This 13th-century scottish epic, staring Mel Gibson failed to hook my attention during most parts of the film.  Many critics categorize this film as a "romantic adventure" but I however disagree with this categorization.  The romance was sped up and too overdone in such a small period of time that you can barely look at this entire extremely lengthy film and categorize it as any sort of a romance film- in my opinion.  Honestly, I think my favorite part of the film was Mel Gibson.  That is a very vague thing to say considering Mel Gibson plays the main character and is in almost every single scene; and I already previously mentioned disliking the movie- however, Mel Gibson just did it for me. I felt his acting wasn't cheesy or fake at all which probably could have easily been done by an American playing a Scottish character.  Personally, I think that despite his personal life- Mel Gibson is a talented genius and honestly I doubt I would physically be able to tolerate this movie if he wasn't the main character.  I think Mel Gibson made his character powerful and strong yet witty and quirky.  William Wallace carried the entire story line and made you want to root for him. William Wallace mattered to everyone and he was such an important role and I think that this film actually did a great job in capturing that. I liked that he was so absorbed with wanting freedom that he didn't really care about his personal prestige.  I'm not sure why I disliked this movie so much- I wish I had a straight forward answer- but I think overall it just wasn't my type of movie and was definitely a movie that I would never want to re-watch.  I left the class every day excited to not have to be watching the movie anymore and entered the class dreading completing it-- which sounds awful but that's just how the movie made me feel.  As much as I disliked the movie- I really do think that it has strong content applications to today.  I look at the world around us and although it seems like we have complete freedom- the sad truth is that we don't.  I think that this movie highlights the importance of fighting for freedom and never giving up until you have complete freedom, whatever freedom may mean to you.

Part Two:

"Every man dies. Not every man really lives."  You know, I have seen several variations of this quote all over social media- which shows that it has some resonance with all eras.  However, this quote applied to the Scottish quest for freedom from English Tyranny doesn't exactly match up to what teenage girls are trying to imply when they put it as the caption on their instagram pictures.  In this film, I think the quote means that even if they die- they die knowing that they died fighting for their freedom.  You can exist but not truly live if you are not free.  To "live" means so much more than to just being a breathing creature on earth.  It means that you have purpose and meaning in this world and to the Scottish, they did not have purpose or meaning if they were not free.  To live is to not feel trapped- because if you feel trapped, what's the point of living?  To me, I think I feel trapped by the norms that society sets and I feel that for one to "live" in this day and age, one has to break from the norm and do what they truly want to do from the bottom of their hearts instead of following the path that society has set.