Braveheart is one of my favorite movies. Mel Gibson was on a great run there for awhile. It is a movie about the value and price for freedom, and it is a stirring film (historical inaccuracies aside).
But what is often missed is the important roles fathers (and father figures) play in the lives of the characters. It may come across to some as simplistic but the men with the bravest hearts were raised by brave men. The cowardly, self-serving men were raised by overbearing, abusive fathers. Fathers play an important role in shaping the lives of sons into young men. That role can’t be overstated.
So let’s take some peeks into this story and see the impact of fathers on sons.
Braveheart opens with a young William Wallace watching his father, Malcolm, preparing to go into battle. His older brother is also joining his father.
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- William: I’m going with you?
- Malcolm: A good help ye be too.
- William: I can fight.
- Malcolm: I know you can fight. (pause) But it’s our wits that make us men.
His father does not mock him, but affirms him. But in the process teaches him that there is more to being a man than fighting. And more to fighting than mere strength and skill. William must still learn to use his wits to be a man. It appears as though he has the right father to teach him, but tragedy strikes. I wonder if it was this broken heart that made him so pliable.
Into this void steps his Uncle Argylle. He isn’t quite sure about Argylle at first, but soon learns that he is in good hands.
“You don’t speak Latin? Well, that’s something we’ll have to remedy, isn’t it?”
His uncle does not belittle him, but sees this as an indication that young William can and will learn. Together they will address this lack of knowledge. William is not alone, but his uncle will stand with him and teach him what he lacks.
“It was the same for me and your father when our daddy died. First learn to use this (points to his head), then I’ll teach you how to use this.”
Uncle Argylle is one who has trod the path that lies before William. He and his brother lost their father. He puts the priority on using his head so that he will not only use his weapons skillfully but wisely.
But Malcom does not disappear from the film. He shows up in a dream to offer direction to his son.
“Your heart is free; have the courage to follow it.”
Perhaps a tad bit Pelagian there, but often we don’t accomplish anything because we are afraid. We can easily become trapped within our fears. Though Scotland was in bondage to England, the King could not enslave William’s heart unless William allowed him to. If he was to become free of the tyranny of England, he would have to possess a braveheart.
Edward Longshanks is the polar opposite of Malcolm and Argylle. He does not nurture his son and call him to courage in pursuing his dreams. He continually degrades his son, and forces his legacy upon him.
“One day you will be a king. At least try to act like one.”
William’s friend Hamish also has a “good enough” father. He doesn’t seem like the brightest bulb in the pack. He lacks the wisdom of Malcolm and Argylle. But he loves his son- and communicates it. During the rock throwing contest he is there encouraging Hamish. Later in the story they would fight side-by-side. Hamish was a good friend, and a courageous man because of the steady influence of his father. After his father is mortally wounded in battle, Hamish is broken hearted. They had a loving relationship such that they enjoyed one another’s presence.
“I’ve lived long enough to live free, proud to see you become the man you are. I’m a happy man.”
There is a counterpart of Hamish as well. Robert the Bruce. I’ve been to the cathedral in Dunfermlin where he’s buried. He has ambitions for Robert, and is involved in manipulating things behind the scenes. He is the master of the double cross. He has no courage, only self-interest. He grasps for power, not freedom. He explains his betrayal of Wallace to Robert.
“Uncompromising men are easy to admire. He has courage. So does a dog. But it is exactly the ability to compromise that makes a man noble.”
But William engages in combat for the very soul of Robert the Bruce. He seeks to call forth the better parts of Robert, to call him out of self-interest and duplicity. He sees that Robert could be a greater man than his father wants him to be.
“The people know you and respect you. … If you would just lead the people they would follow you, and so would I. You are the rightful leader. There is strength in you, I can see it.”
William is not defending his position as leader of the rebellion against England. He would willingly step aside if Robert would lead. For Wallace it was not about him, but Scotland. Taking a page from his father and uncle, he affirms even as he challenges.
But the Bruce will not go down quietly. One last double cross results in Wallace being delivered into the hands of England to be killed. (It was also fascinating to stand on the very spot on which he was condemned in the old Parliament building in London.) Robert is no longer torn between his father and Wallace. His father won the battle, but lost the war.
- “All men betray! All lose heart!
- “I don’t want to lose heart! I want to believe as he does. I’ll never be on the wrong side again. You’re not a man. You’re not my father!”
- “At last you know what it means to hate. You’re ready to be a king.”
- “My hate will die with you!.”
The old man is riddled with leprosy and ready to die. It is a fit metaphor for his diseased soul. He has tried to prepare his son to be king, but a horrible kind of king. Wallace taught him to be a different, better kind of king. He didn’t want Scotland to toss off one tyrant for another. And soon he would leave Scotland to toss off the tyrant known as Edward Longshanks.
Fathers shape their sons with their words and actions. Too often fathers twist their sons into either horrible replicas of their own tortured souls, or into weak souls like Edward’s son. But it doesn’t have to be that way. They can, by God’s grace, shape them into “arrows of grace” they shoot into the future to change a time not yet here for the better. Behind the men that shape history are their fathers. Some have unleashed the terrors of hell upon the world through their sons. Some have released the blessing of heaven. Braveheart is a movie that also challenges fathers to consider how they raise their sons.
