Editing The Patriot (2000 film) (section)

===Depiction of atrocities in the Revolutionary War===

''The Patriot'' was criticized for misrepresenting atrocities during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], including the killing of [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] and wounded soldiers and Tavington's burning a church filled with civilians. Although historians have noted that both sides during the conflict committed atrocities, they "generally agree that the rebels probably violated the rules of war more often than the British". According to ''[[Salon.com]]'', the church-burning scene in the film is based on the [[Oradour-sur-Glane massacre]] committed by [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces in 1944, though "[there] is no evidence that a similar event took place during the American Revolution".<ref>{{cite news |title=Did the Brits Burn Churches |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2000/07/did-the-brits-burn-churches.html |work=Slate |date=July 10, 2000}}</ref> Historian Bill Segars noted that there was no record of the British ever burning a church full of civilians during the Revolutionary War,<ref name="newsandpress.net">Lyle, Samantha, [https://www.newsandpress.net/church-burnings-made-colonists-fight-brits-even-harder 'Church burnings made Colonists fight Brits even harder'], The Darlington County News & Press, November 26, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2024.</ref> though British and Loyalist forces did burn several empty churches such as the [[St. Philip's Church, Brunswick Town|St. Philip's Church]] in Brunswick Town and [[Indiantown, South Carolina|Indiantown]] Presbyterian Church.<ref name="newsandpress.net"/><ref>Jarvis, Gail, [https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/the-destruction-of-old-sheldon-church-and-other-ravages-of-war 'The Destruction of Old Sheldon Church and Other Ravages of War'], Abbeville Institute, March 22, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2024.</ref><ref>Dukes, Josh, [https://www.johnsonvilleschistory.org/exhibits/show/churches/indiantown-presbyterian-church 'Indiantown Presbyterian Church'], Johnsonville SC History. Retrieved February 8, 2024.</ref><ref>Merida, Paul C., [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA603028.pdf 'The British Southern Campaign 1778-1781: The Impact of Strategic Level Assessments and Assumptions on British Decision Making '], USMC Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University, March 5, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2024.</ref>

The ''[[New York Post]]'' film critic [[Jonathan Foreman (journalist)|Jonathan Foreman]] was one of several focusing on this distortion in the film and wrote the following in an article at [[Salon.com]]:

<blockquote>The most disturbing thing about ''The Patriot'' is not just that German director [[Roland Emmerich]] (director of'' [[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]])'' and his screenwriter [[Robert Rodat]] (who was criticized for excluding the roles played by [[British Armed Forces|British]] and other [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] troops in the [[Normandy landings]] from his script for ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'') depicted British troops as committing savage atrocities, but that those atrocities bear such a close resemblance to [[German war crimes|war crimes carried out by German troops]]—particularly the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] in [[World War II]]. It's hard not to wonder if the filmmakers have some kind of subconscious agenda... They have made a film that will have the effect of inoculating audiences against the unique historical horror of [[Oradour-sur-Glane massacre|Oradour]]—and implicitly rehabilitating the Nazis while making the British seem as evil as history's worst monsters... So it's no wonder that the British press sees this film as a kind of [[blood libel]] against the [[British people]].<ref>Foreman, Jonathan, [http://www.salon.com/2000/07/03/patriot_3/ 'The Nazis, er, the Redcoats are coming!'], Salon.com, July 3, 2000. Retrieved October 2, 2016.</ref></blockquote>

''[[The Washington Post]]'' film critic [[Stephen Hunter]] said: "Any image of the American Revolution which represents you Brits as Nazis and us as gentle folk is almost certainly wrong. It was a very bitter war, a total war, and that is something that I am afraid has been lost to history....[T]he presence of the Loyalists (colonists who did not want to join the fight for independence from Britain) meant that the War of Independence was a conflict of complex loyalties."<ref>{{cite news |last=Fenton |first=Ben |title=Truth is first casualty in Hollywood's war |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=June 19, 2000 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1343851/Truth-is-first-casualty-in-Hollywoods-war.html}}</ref> The historian Richard F. Snow, editor of ''[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]]'' magazine, said of the church-burning scene: "Of course it never happened—if it had do you think Americans would have forgotten it? It could have kept us out of [[World War I]]."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jul/22/the-patriot-mel-gibson-reel-history |location=London |work=The Guardian |title=The Patriot: more flag-waving rot with Mel Gibson |date=July 23, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tony+Parsons+Column%3A+Danger+in+Mel%27s+deceit.-a063529045 |title=Tony Parsons Column: Danger in Mel's deceit |work=The Free Library |publisher=Farlex}}</ref>