The film "The Patriot" touched on a lot of themes. Many were themes of human emotion and interaction including; rage, hate, love and perseverance. As far as historical themes that correlate to the time period are concerned the theme I felt was most important was stated by Mel Gibson's character, Benjamin Martin, in the beginning of the film. Benjamin Martin spoke about his wish for freedom but that the cost of it may be too high. He believed, as did many other colonists rich and poor alike, that the patriots were too zealous in their quest to gain independence and feared that they too would rule as a tyrant. When asked for his vote on going to war for independence Martin said "Why should I agree to swap one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away?".
Benjamin Martin knew the horrors of war and was a great warrior in the French and Indian war. At the time of the rebellion from Great Britain, Martin was a father with a large family to care for. He realized the pointlessness of war and though he wanted independence, the loss of his family was not worth it. Many people of the time period were upset with Britain but many of those people were not prepared to lose everything they owned and loved for it. The Intolerable Acts woke a lot of these people up to the tyranny of Great Britain but those who did not lose liberties were not all on board when it came to fighting a war with the strongest empire in the world for freedom. Martin fought in the war to protect his family, not to gain independence as I assume many people did at the time. Numerous colonists did feel strongly about independence though. The name of the movie is not from Martin's acts but his son Gabriel's. Gabriel is the patriot in the film. He was young and full of spirit, so wrapped up in his beliefs of independence that he would and did fight to the death for it. Gabriel searched for adventure and fought with passion as did other young colonists, not even the cold winters and lack of supplies would break his fervor for independence.