Braveheart Ing:Maquetación 3.Qxd

Miguel García Garraus J Med Mov 5 (2009): 3-15 JMM Br avehear t (1995). Leprosy: A Stigmatizing Disease Miguel García Garraus Servicio de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública. Hospital Universitario de Salamanca. Paseo de San Vicente 58-182. 37007 Salamanca (Spain). Correspondence: Miguel García Garraus. Hospital Universitario de Salamanca. Paseo de San Vicente 58-182. 37007 Salamanca (Spain). e-mail: [email protected] Received 6 December 2007; modified 20 January 2009; accepted 25 January, 2009 Summary The film is a hymn to freedom, the freedom of individuals and entire peoples. It narrates the life of the Scots hero, William Wallace, who lived during the last decades of the 13th century and the first years of the 14th century. These were turbulent times in the history of Scotland, which was subject to the power of the King of England, its neighbour, who governed with an iron hand while the members of the Scots nobility competed and fought for the succession to the throne of Scotland, which had been left vacant. Keywords: Leprosy, Film, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, Lepers, Wars of Scottish Independence 13th -14th centuries. Technical details Awards: Oscar (1995) for Best Film (Mel Gibson, Alan Ladd Jr., Bruce Davey), Direc- Title: Braveheart tor (Mel Gibson), Photography (John Toll), Country: USA Make-up (Peter Framptom, Paul Pattison, Year: 1995 Lois Burwell) and Sound Effects (Lon Bender, Director: Mel Gibson Per Hallberg). Nominated for the Oscar for Music: James Horner Best Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound and Screenplay. Photography: John Toll http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112573 Film editor: Steven Rosenblum Screenwriter:Randall Wallace The Film Cast: Mel Gibson, James Robinson, Sean Lawlor, Sandy Nelson, James Cosmos, Sean Braveheart is one of those films that leave no McGinley, Alan Tall, Andrew Weir, Gerda spectator indifferent. It does not use a complicated Stevenson, Ralph Riach, Mhairi Calvey, Brian philosophical approach, and anyone can understand its Cox, Patrick McGoohan, Peter Hanly, Sophie Marceau, Stephen Billington, Barry McGo- message: life without love and freedom is not life. vern, Angus Macfadyen, John Kavanagh, Alun Armstrong, Catherine McCormack, Brendan The action begins in 1280. William Wallace Gleeson, Tommy Flanagan and Ian Bannen. (Mel Gibson, as a boy played by James Robinson) is a Color: Color boy who lives in a small village and who by chance Runtime: 177 minutes witnesses a nightmarish scene: all the unarmed Scots Genre: Action, Biography, Drama, War nobles who had met with the English, supposedly to Production Companies: Icon Productions, negotiate peace, appear hanged. Ladd Company, Twentieth Century Fox and B.H. Finance C.V. The Scots naturally wish to avenge their Synopsis: “Biopic” of the Scottish hero deaths. Malcolm (Sean Lawlor) and John (Sandy William Wallace (end of the 13th and begin- Nelson), the father and older brother of William, die ning of the 14th century. at the hands of the invader during these clashes. 3 © Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca Miguel García Garraus J Med Mov 5 (2009): 3-15 William, awaiting their return, sees his neighbours ness the uprising of a people with less and less to lose returning with a cart carrying their bodies. who have now found a leader to fight against the tyranny of the English King Edward I, who for many The orphaned William is taken in by his years has been obsessed with dominating Scotland by father’s brother, a cleric, and moves to Dundee. There any means. We are also privy to the doubts, intrigues he receives an education and has the opportunity to and betrayals of the Scots nobility, more concerned accompany his uncle on journeys to other European with their disputes over the succession to the throne cities. and with accumulating lands and wealth than with fighting for the independence of their country. William Wallace returns to his village (Figure 1) some years later for a wedding celebration, but the fun is cut short by the appearance of English soldiers who come to take the bride to spend a night with their Lord, who claims his right to jus primae noctis that the king of England, Edward I (Patrick McGoohan), has reinstated. Figure 2: Murron (Catherine McCormack) Wallace defeats the English at Stirling (Figure 3) and begins the invasion of England. After several victories, however, he returns after hearing of Edward I’s plans for attacking Scotland from the north and the west. William is defeated at Falkirk, but Figure 1: William Wallace (Mel Gibson) with a small group of men still manages to carry on the fight against the English, keeping alive the flame Wallace falls in love with Murron (Catherine of rebellion. He is finally taken prisoner owing to the McCormack, as a young girl played by Mhairi Calvey) betrayal of the father (Ian Bannen) of the young (Figure 2) whom he has known since childhood, and Robert the Bruce and is executed in a savage and she corresponds this love. They marry in secret so that extremely cruel manner. the English lord cannot take his first night rights. Nevertheless, the seeds of freedom and jus- One day the English soldiers are in the mar- tice he has sown now grow among many Scots, even ket village of Lanarck and an officer tries to rape in Robert the Bruce (Angus Macfadyen), who as King Murron. Wallace comes to the rescue and after attack- Robert I (Figure 4), roundly defeats the English on the ing the perpetrators finds a horse for Murron to flee fields of Bannockburn, achieving the independence of on and tries to do the same. He manages to escape and Scotland. believes that Murron has done so as well, only to find that the English Sheriff of the area has cut her throat The film Braveheart is much more than the to oblige William to come back and seek vengeance. brief summary given here: it is a succession of impressive scenes of mediaeval war, of tender love After this bout of death and injustices, scenes; it is a magnificent portrayal of the age, it is the Wallace can no longer be a peaceful citizen who wish- music, the landscape, the photography, and the sensa- es to marry, have a family and work his lands. We wit- tion of reality that it transmits, making us sometimes 4 © Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca Miguel García Garraus J Med Mov 5 (2009): 3-15 ten almost two centuries after William Wallace’s birth and based on oral tradition. He liked it so much he decided to tell the story of the life of the poem’s hero, possibly without verifying all of the facts. Figure 3: The Battle of Stirling. English Army wish we were there with Wallace at Falkirk or with the Bruce in Bannockburn so that we could also give the invader what he deserved. Of course, as soon as the film came out dis- cordant voices emerged in an effort to discredit and disparage the film for its discrepancies with history, which as we shall see are important ones, but do not detract from the film’s great merit. Even if all the names of the characters were different and it took place in a different country, we would continue to admire the man who fought for the freedom of his people, spurned the riches that some tried to bribe him with and who was capable of crying “Freeeeeedom!” when the majority were still humbly whispering “Your Grace”. Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay, confessed that he had read the poem about Wallace Figure 5: Cover of Wallace by Blind Harry written by Blind Harry in 1470 (figure 5). It was writ- Leprosy in Br avehear t There are two characters in this film who are not among the main characters but who actually were protagonists in real life, Robert VII the Bruce, who would later become King Robert I of Scotland, and his father, Robert VI the Bruce, Lord of Annandale, who died of leprosy. The father’s role is impressive. He only appears in four scenes; in each one we can see the progression of the disease (Figure 6) and in all four scenes he gives an authentic lesson in political Machiavellianism as well as in paternal love, as he leads his son along the difficult road to the throne of Scotland, which had been his own great ambition before falling ill. From the ethical point of view the character Figure 4: Robert I the Bruce (Angus Macfadyen) is more than reprehensible, but he draws our attention 5 © Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca Miguel García Garraus J Med Mov 5 (2009): 3-15 Figure 6: Evolution of the leprosy of Robert Bruce The Leper (Ian Bannen) in different scenes of the film both for his leprosy, always such a mysterious and Wallace nor could there have ever been a romance frightening disease, and for his skill for intrigue and between them as seen in the film. When Wallace machination. attacked England, Isabella was five years old, and Wallace was executed three years before she married He is the victim of a self-imposed isolation Edward II. in what seems to be a tower of the castle, and his son goes to see him whenever he needs his advice, but The legend about a romantic relationship these visits are short and they have no physical con- between William Wallace and a French princess perhaps tact. He appears covered in a large cape and the parts came about in reference to Princess Margaret “The of his body that the cape does not cover are swathed Pearl of France”, who was the second wife of Edward in bandages; the room in the tower in which he works I and does not appear as a character in the film.

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