*Note: Paramount has not issued any statements regarding Braveheart appearing on HD DVD, but the new extras created for this DVD release are in anamorphic widescreen (like the extras offered by the two-disc special edition of Face/Off). It also looks like a new video master was created. Therefore, I’m guessing that an HD DVD will street in 2008.

As with Titanic, Paramount has US/Canada rights while Fox has the rest of the world. Adjust your HD DVD and Blu-ray plans accordingly.

Braveheart is a curious cinematic experience for me.

Mel Gibson crafted a rousing, old-fashioned epic with big, sweeping emotions. I tried very hard to avoid crying, and I succeeded up until the very end. Then, Gibson’s voice uttered the epilogue:

“In the year of our Lord 1314,
Patriots of Scotland, Starving and Outnumbered,
Charged the Fields of Bannockburn.
They fought like Warrior Poets.
They fought like Scotsmen.
And won their Freedom.”

I lost it and sobbed through the end credits. The epilogue is as poetically simple and powerful as those Warrior Poets must’ve been. Not knowing much about Scottish history, I figured that the epilogue might’ve meant that the Scottish warriors perished.

After watching the movie, I found out that the epilogue should be understood literally--Scotland actually achieved independence from England for a short while because of the Battle of Bannockburn. This fact only heightened my appreciation of the movie because Gibson and writer William Wallace were able to turn dusty history into something lyrical.

Not so good was learning that the French princess played by Sophie Marceau actually went to England three years after William Wallace died. The movie is littered with numerous other inaccuracies. I’m someone who’s easily annoyed by factual errors, but I also realize that a fictional dramatic narrative takes liberties in order to flow smoothly.

I’ve seen Braveheart so many times that I know what the next music cue will sound like as I’m watching the movie. This is true even while I was watching this new two-disc special edition, which was the first time I’ve viewed the movie in about two or three years. My familiarity with Braveheart has made me noticed how peculiar it is--it’s one of the sloppiest major motion pictures ever (especially for one that won an Oscar for Best Picture and was nominated for Best Editing), yet its strengths completely negate its huge faults. The continuity errors during the Battle of Stirling are appalling.

1) A young guy gets shot with an arrow twice--exactly the same way. This is either literally the same take used twice or two different takes of the same action (probably the former).

2) There is almost zero continuity with regards to Mel Gibson’s movements while he’s charging across the field to fight the English. He starts off with a pickaxe, he runs across the field reaching for the sword on his back, he runs with his arms pumping at his sides, he runs while brandishing his sword, he runs with empty hands again, and he runs raising his sword above his head.

3) The extras sometimes just stand around not knowing what to do. The audio has people shouting or screaming, but the extras’ mouths are closed. Or they stop fighting, look around for someone to give them instructions, and then half-heartedly swing their weapons before dropping their arms to the side.

4) There are several shots of swords hitting people with the actors reacting as if they’re hurt, but clearly, the swords didn’t cut into them.

Sharp-eyed viewers will notice other editing errors, of which there are too many to list here. Yet, like I already wrote, the movie’s strengths--its energy, conviction, and lush music score--make it easy to gloss over the historical inaccuracies and error-riddled editing.

I find it impossible, however, to reconcile my reaction to the movie with my feelings about Mel Gibson the man. My good friend and editor Gary Tooze has encouraged me to watch movies without regard to anything outside of the TV frame, but I’ve told him that as movies are not made in vacuums, they should not be viewed in vacuums. Braveheart is clearly an expression of Gibson’s traditionalist Catholic sentiments, from praying in Latin to being tied down in a crucifixion position. The Patriot and We Were Soldiers, though directed by others, also espoused Gibson’s Catholicism (i.e. large families). All of this would not be so troubling had Gibson not made The Passion of the Christ and went on a drunken tirade accusing Jews of starting every war in history. The Passion and his drunken tirade basically summed up Gibson’s disturbed psyche--just look at the sadism to which he subjects his characters in just about every one of his movies beginning with Lethal Weapon.

I can not recommend Braveheart without feeling pangs of guilt and disgust. However, I will admit that Braveheart is a powerful motion picture. Buy it if you’re able to watch movies with blinders over your personal moral judgment.*