Struggles for national independence make good entertainment and Braveheart is but one notable example of the trend. By telling audiences, "Every man dies, not every man really lives," the film tagged itself a universally appealing portrait of courage and largely delivered on its promise to bring the heroic struggle of Scottish rebel William Wallace to the screen with Mel Gibson and his big blue eyes twinkling in the lead role.

Despite its well-executed and bloody battles, winning supporting cast and straightforward story about the tumult of nation building in the British Isles, however, the movie falters whenever it veers away from Wallace's civil war and turns to his love life. At first this plot point entices unknown possibilities in the script by creating a sensitive warrior filled with vulnerable feelings and warm emotions. Then it motivates all subsequent action when Wallace is moved to war against the forces of British King Edward I (Patrick McGoohan) after his young bride, Murron (Catherine McCormack), is murdered simply to provoke him as a rabble-rouser.

After avenging his wife in one of the more brutal and impressive sequences ever brought to screen Wallace enters into open rebellion. Later encouraged by a few landed gentry and an upstart, would-be Scottish king named Robert the Bruce (Angus MacFadyen), his single act of vengeance gradually loses its close association with the defense of womanhood in the form of his wife and turns into civil war.

His vengeance killing proves a difficult plot action to forget and is one of Wallace's primary qualities. Not only does his devotion to Murron resonate with our own interest in seeing her killers brought to a brutal end, which is accomplished for our benefit, it demonstrates the willingness of one brilliant man to change history through acting of his own free will and for self-determination.

Unfortunately the movie ends up developing another romantic subplot later on about Edward I's homosexual son whose wife, the lustrous French Princess Isabelle (Sophie Marceau), ends up falling in love with Wallace. She is at first used as a pawn by the King to draw out Wallace although his vengeful myth manages to seduce her.

Eventually the battlefield conflicts concerning Scottish independence, the rise of future Scottish King Robert the Bruce and the intrigue of Edward I's court politics all find themselves resolved in Wallace's kilt when he succumbs woos Isabelle to bed. The joy of watching the union of Gibson and Marceau notwithstanding, the interlude proves Wallace's actions a betrayal of his once-defended wife and, for me at least, undercut the force of the movie as it drags on and on.

With the final section devoted to Wallace's espousal of freedom and personal integrity once captured by the King, Braveheart slows down and drags to its concluding snapshot of advancing Scottish rebels once and for all winning their independence. Before delivering his final voice-over explanation of Wallace's posthumous victory, however, producer/director/star Mel Gibson lingers on his character's death throes in being disemboweled before an English crowd rabidly desirous of his blood yet somehow moved by his final howl of "freedom."

Similarly rabid Academy voters lined up behind Gibson's second directorial feature film and acclaimed it the movie of the year. Having beat out the animated sleeper-hit Babe and the Ang Lee costume drama Sense and Sensibility Gibson's movie defined an uneven year at the American box office. Likewise it demonstrated the occasional disconnection between an award-winning movie and its commercial prospects.

Though the film's second tagline read, "His passion captivated a woman. His courage inspired a nation. His heart defied a king," Braveheart was an expensive project despite being shot on location. Costing some $72 million and utilizing a supporting cast of hundreds it also required a prolonged attention span with a release-length print of nearly 3-hours that cost exhibitors screening opportunities and the movie's producers dollars in their pockets. Interestingly the release date was also during the summer, fully six months before the end of the year, generally a time that puts a film's Oscar prospects in the balance behind repaying investors and going into wider release internationally.

Winning Oscar nominations and the Best Picture of the Year award undoubtedly goosed the film's box office take yet the film may only have broken even. It certainly wasn't a hit and there were those in the movie-going community, professionals and lay people alike, who balked at the very idea of celebrating Braveheart at all. Partially this sentiment lay in Gibson's off-screen homophobia along with a male-dominated return to classical Hollywood style where good guys are handsome and strong and must, by rights of our colonial heritage, beat up and kill bad guys who talk with British accents.

There were also arguments to be made about films of potentially greater artistic merit than Braveheart would have had if not for its Oscar win. Such films include Dead Man Walking, The Usual Suspects, Casino and perhaps the year's most infamous film, Seven that brought serial killing into the mainstream as a water cooler conversation piece.

Naturally the historical record will judge the importance of awarding Braveheart top honors in a year generally considered sub-par among movies. Yet it's also saying too little if I don't admit I'm a fan of Braveheart even if it's overlong with at least one significantly flawed romantic subplot. But it's also cracker-jack movie magic whenever a combat sequence is put on-screen.

Fortunately the movie's producers had the foresight to recognize this asset in conveying the carnage of hand-to-hand combat before weapons of mass destruction defined human conflict. Swords, bows and arrows, rampaging horses and slashing maces abound. Among more memorable sequences are the Wallace's vengeance wrought on Murron's killer, the battles between Scottish rebels and the professional troops of King Edward I's military and the background sequences detailing Wallace and his peaceful existence before the outbreak of civil war. There are also a number of terrific supporting players including Patrick McGoohan's evil turn as the aging King Longshanks and Brendan Gleeson as Wallace's lifelong, red-haired friend Hamish.

In the end no one should confuse Braveheart with a truly great film to stand the test of the ages. It doesn't particularly appeal to the soul nor excite the imagination as much as it pummels a variety of senses into being impressed with the delivery of screen carnage. More outspoken nay-sayers have even said it's nothing but a cheap knock-off of Spartacus just as later critics of Gladiator would criticize it opening siege as being another version of the first battle in Gibson's epic.

Such criticism is indeed warranted but it misses the point. Braveheart is good entertainment.

It is a fine action movie and though it is inconsistent it does catch the eye by sustaining interest all the way through its final image of a sword impaled in the earth with the wonderful score of James Horner playing beneath the ending credits and a release from 13th century nationalism back into the present day.