Braveheart

"I shall tell you of William Wallace.

Historians from England will say I am a liar,

but history is written by those who have hanged heroes.

The king of Scotland had died without a son,

and the king of England,

a cruel pagan known as "Edward the Longshanks",

claimed the throne of Scotland for himself.

Scotland's nobles fought him

and fought each other over the crown.

So "Longshanks" invited them to talks of truce,

no weapons, one page only.

Among the farmers of that shire was Malcolm Wallace,

a commoner with his own lands.

He had two sons, John and William."

I told you to stay.

Well, I finished my work.

Where are we going?

MacAndrews'. He was supposed to visit when the gathering was over.

- Can I come? - No. Go home, boy.

But I want to go.

Go home, William, or you'll feel the back of my hand.

Go you home, William.

MacAndrews!

Holy Jesus.

- It's all right! - William! William!

William! William, it's all right.

It's all right. Easy, lad.

William.

And I say we hit back now!

- We cannot fight them! It's suicide! - Something's got to be done.

Wallace is right! We fight them!

Every nobleman who had a will to fight was at that meeting.

We cannot beat an army.

Not with 50 farmers.

We do not have to beat them, just fight them.

Now, who's with me?

I am, Wallace.

All right, all right.

Ready.

Where do you think you're going?

I'm going with you.

You're going with me, are you?

- And what are you going to do? - I'm gonna help.

And a good help you'd be, too,

but I need you to stay here and look after the place for me

while I'm away.

l can fight.

I know. I know you can fight.

But it's our wits that make us men.

See you tomorrow.

- English. - Get down.

With your father and brother gone, they'll kill us and burn the farm.

It's up to us, Hamish.

Nah.

Da?

William.

Come here, lad.

Amen.

- Amen. - Amen.

William.

I'm your uncle. Argyle.

You have the look of your mother.

We'll stay here tonight.

Tomorrow you'll come home with me.

I don't want to leave.

You didn't want your father to die either, did you?

But it happened.

Did the priest give a poetic benediction?

"The Lord bless thee and keep thee"?

It was in Latin.

You don't speak Latin?

Well, that's something we shall have to remedy, isn't it?

The Lord bless thee and keep thee.

The Lord cause his light to shine on thee.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee

and give thee peace.

Amen.

Your heart is free.

Have the courage to follow it.

What are they doing?

Saying goodbye in their own way.

Playing outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes.

It was the same for me and your daddy when our father was killed.

First, learn to use this.

Then l'll teach you to use this.

Many years later,

Edward the Longshanks, King of England,

supervised the wedding of his eldest son,

who would succeed him to the throne.

Amen.

As bride for his son,

Longshanks had chosen the daughter of his rival,

the King of France.

It was widely whispered that for the princess to conceive,

Longshanks would have to do the honors himself.

That may have been what he had in mind all along.

Scotland. My land.

The French will grovel to anyone with strength,

but how will they believe our strength

when we cannot rule the whole of our own island?

Where is my son?

Your pardon, milord. He asked me to come in his stead.

I sent for him, and he sends you.

Shall I leave, milord?

If he wants his queen to rule when I am gone,

then, by all means, stay and learn how.

Please.

Nobles.

Nobles are the key to the door of Scotland.

Grant our nobles lands in the north,

give their nobles estates here in England,

and make them too greedy to oppose us.

But, sire, our nobles will be reluctant to uproot.

New lands mean new taxes,

and they're aIready taxed for the war in France.

Are they?

The trouble with Scotland is that it's full of Scots.

Perhaps the time has come to reinstitute an old custom.

Grant them "Prima Nocte"

"First night".

When any common girl inhabiting their lands is married,

our nobles shall have sexual rights to her on the night of her wedding.

If we can't get them out, we'll breed them out.

That should fetch just the kind of lords we want to Scotland,

taxes or no taxes.

- A most excellent idea, sire. - Is it?

Now in Edinburgh were gathered the council of Scottish nobles.

Among these was Robert, the 17th Earl of Bruce,

a leading contender for the crown of Scotland.

I hear that Longshanks has granted "Prima Nocte".

Clearly meant to draw more of his supporters here.

My father believes that we must lull Longshanks into our confidence

by neither supporting his decree nor opposing it.

A wise plan.

And how is your father? We missed him at the council.

His affairs in France keep him long overdue.

But he sends his greetings,

and he says that I speak for all of the Bruces and for Scotland.

It's all over now.

You've dropped your rock.

Test of manhood.

You win.

Call it a test of soldiery, then.

The English won't let us train with weapons,

so we train with stones.

The test of a soldier is not in his arm. It's here.

No. It's here.

Hamish?

Here you go, Son.

Show him how.

Come on, Hamish!

You'll never beat Hamish.

Come on there, boy!

My boy!

That's a good throw.

Aye. Aye, it was.

I was wondering if you could do that when it matters.

As it matters in battle.

Could you crush a man with that throw?

I could crush you like a worm.

- You could? - Aye.

Well, then, do it.

Would you like to see him crush me like a worm?

Aye.

- Come do it. - You'll move.

I will not.

Right.

He'll move.

Come on, Hamish.

Come on there, boy!

Well done!

Fine display, young Wallace.

Are you all right?

You look a wee bit shaky.

- I should have remembered the rocks. - Aye, you should have.

Get up, you big heap.

It's good to see you again.

Aye. Welcome home.

- Got my head. - Well, you should have moved.

William, will you dance with me?

Of course I will.

I've come to claim the right of "Prima Nocte".

As lord of these lands, I will bless this marriage

by taking the bride into my bed on the first night of her union.

By God, you will not!

It is my noble right.

Good evening, sir.

Young Wallace.

- Grand soft evening, huh? - Aye, it's that.

I was wondering if I might have a word with your daughter.

What do you want to have a word with her about?

Well...

Murron, would you like to come and ride with me on this fine evening?

ln this? You're out of your mind.

It's good Scottish weather, madam. The rain is falling straight down.

Slightly to the side, like.

- She can't go with you. - No?

No the now, anyway.

- No the now. - No the now?

We'll see you later.