Hoist the Black Flag

Hoist the Black Flag

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Hoist the Black Flag
Hoist the Black Flag
Et tu, documentaries?

Et tu, documentaries?

Even documentary film makers have agendas

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Philip O'Reilly
Jun 04, 2024
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Hoist the Black Flag
Hoist the Black Flag
Et tu, documentaries?
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I know I’m dating myself, but I love the movie Braveheart.  Battles, romance, intrigue, it has it all.  There’s one particularly memorable scene (spoiler alert!) in which England’s King Edward I, Longshanks lies dying and unable to speak while his daughter-in-law, Isabella of France, played by 29-year-old Sophie Marceau, describes to him how she’s pregnant with Wallace’s child and plans on murdering Edward’s son.

“You see? Death comes to us all. But before it comes to you, know this: your blood dies with you. A child who is not of your line grows in my belly. Your son will not sit long on the throne. I swear it.”

-- Isabella

It’s a great scene which gives the evil Longshanks gets his just reward.  The only problem is that the real Isabella didn’t marry Edward II until he was already king, and Wallace had been dead for 7 years.  Oh, and she would have been 3 at the time of her affair with Wallace.    The movie is full of historical inaccuracies but that’s “Hollywood History” for you, why let truth stand in the way of a good story?  The movie is still great, you just need to remember not to use Hollywood as the source of you historical knowledge (cough, cough, Bridgerton). 

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