Editing The Patriot (2000 film) (section)

===Criticism of Benjamin Martin as based on Francis Marion===
The film was harshly criticized in the [[British press]] in part because of its connection to [[Francis Marion]], a militia leader in South Carolina known as the "Swamp Fox".  After the release of ''The Patriot'', the British newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]'' denounced Marion as "a serial [[Rape|rapist]] who hunted [[Red Indians]] for fun."<ref>{{cite news |title=Spike Lee slams Patriot |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=July 6, 2000 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jul/06/news.spikelee |access-date=January 2, 2010 |location=London}}</ref> Historian [[Christopher Hibbert]] told the ''[[Daily Express]]'' about Marion:

<blockquote>The truth is that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 2000 |title=Mel Gibson's latest hero: a rapist who hunted Indians for fun |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jun/15/news.melgibson |access-date= |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref></blockquote>

''The Patriot'' does not depict the American character Benjamin Martin as innocent of atrocities; a key plot point revolves around the character's guilt over acts he engaged in, such as torturing, killing, and mutilating prisoners during the [[French and Indian War]], leading him to repentantly repudiate General Cornwallis for the brutality of his men.

Conservative radio host [[Michael Graham (radio personality)|Michael Graham]] rejected Hibbert's criticism of Marion in a commentary published in ''[[National Review]]'':

<blockquote>Was Francis Marion a slave owner? Was he a determined and dangerous warrior? Did he commit acts in an 18th century war that we would consider atrocious in the current world of peace and [[political correctness]]? As another great American film hero might say: 'You're damn right.'  "That's what made him a hero, 200 years ago and today."<ref name="graham">{{cite news |last=Graham |first=Michael |title=The British Are Crying, the British Are Crying (guest column) |date=June 26, 2000 |work=[[National Review]] |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment062600b.html |access-date=May 31, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205021141/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment062600b.html |archive-date=February 5, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref></blockquote>

Graham also refers to what he describes as "the unchallenged work of South Carolina's premier historian" Dr. [[Walter Edgar]], who claimed in his 1998 ''South Carolina: A History'' that Marion's partisans were "a ragged band of both black and white volunteers".<ref name="graham" />

Amy Crawford, in ''[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]'' magazine, stated that modern historians such as [[William Gilmore Simms]] and [[Hugh Rankin (historian)|Hugh Rankin]] have written accurate biographies of Marion, including Simms' ''The Life of Francis Marion''.<ref name="fox">{{cite magazine |last=Crawford |first=Amy |date=July 1, 2007 |title=The Swamp Fox |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/fox.html |access-date= |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]}}</ref>  The introduction to the 2007 edition of Simms' book was written by [[Sean Busick]], a professor of American history at [[Athens State University]] in [[Alabama]], who wrote:

<blockquote>Marion deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of the War for Independence....Francis Marion was a man of his times: he owned slaves, and he fought in a brutal campaign against the [[Cherokee Indians]]...Marion's experience in the French and Indian War prepared him for more admirable service.<ref name=fox/></blockquote>

During pre-production, the producers debated on whether Martin would own slaves, ultimately deciding not to make him a slave owner. This decision received criticism from [[Spike Lee]], who in a letter to ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' accused the film's portrayal of [[slavery]] as being "a complete [[Whitewashing (censorship)|whitewashing]] of history".<ref name="PCOLHolywoodreporter">{{Cite news |date=6 July 2000 |title=Spike Lee slams Patriot |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jul/06/news.spikelee |access-date= |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Lee wrote that after he and his wife went to see the film, "we both came out of the theatre fuming. For three hours ''The Patriot'' dodged around, skirted about or completely ignored slavery." Gibson himself remarked: "I think I would have made him a slave holder. Not to seems kind of a cop-out."<ref>{{cite news|last=Dunkel|first=Tom |title=Mel Gibson Pops an American Myth|date=June 2000|work=[[George (magazine)|George]] }}</ref>