"Braveheart" is one of my favorite movies. Few movies are powerful enough to bring a tear to my eye every time, and this one never fails. A modern epic, it chronicles the life of William Wallace and the events that create in him a warrior influential enough to lay the course for Scotland to win its freedom from England.

Like life itself the movie is not pure tragedy, not pure comedy (in the Shakespearian sense), but traces of both in cyclical patterns. William faces joy followed by intense sorrow followed by triumph followed by more sorrow and on and on.

The story carries strong messages about everything that is noble: love, honor, loyalty, bravery, friendship, freedom. These themes combined with the impeccable filmmaking create a movie that everyone needs to see at least once. I come away feeling like I've experienced something real (which may have something to do with me watching so many movies with aliens and monsters so a movie about regular humans with no superpowers is a lot closer to real life than what I usually watch. Though if William Wallace were alive today he would probably be Batman.)

Part of what makes this movie great is the amount of factual content. Wallace is real, the events surrounding his wife are real; some artistic license is taken, and some of the material is based on legend rather than hard fact, but there’s a lot of history here. Whoa, there's that real-life element again. It's like looking at your hand and realizing it's in 3D... without the glasses (unless your eyesight sucks, or you're wearing Ray Bans, or... nevermind...)

Back to the reality of real life, "Braveheart" seeks to capture the imperfections of humanity as well as the courage and determination of its heroes. Heroes die, good people make bad decisions, friends disagree and get angry, strong men cry: the traditional Hollywood archetypes are largely abandoned. Wallace is not a typical summer blockbuster action movie hero like what Schwarzenegger usually plays.

This is not so much entertainment as it is a statement. It can actually be difficult to watch because it reminds the viewer of death and misery in the world, however it counters that with hope and the greatness of fighting for what is right. The battle scenes do a nice job of putting the viewer in the middle of the action. It’s easy to empathize when you see the bloody arrow sticking out of a man's flesh or the limb severed – things that make the viewer wince with sympathizing agony. This is graphic stuff.

What I find interesting is that most people tend to remember the evisceration scene as the most violent and graphic when the worst thing shown is ropes pulling on the victim. The rest is facial expression and music. The dismemberment scenes are far more graphic as far as actual blood, yet the implied scenes are the ones that stand out in memories. Such is the power of suggestion over depiction.

Speaking of music, James Horner does an exceptional job here especially if you like Celtic sounds. I own both soundtracks and love them. The music is as epic as the movie itself.

The acting here is some of the best I’ve ever seen. Every actor hits home, and it doesn’t take the likes of Mel Gibson to put a lump in your throat. A number of the actors feel like they're reaching inside your chest and squeezing your heart. The cast is far too large for me to go down the list especially since most aren't likely to be instantly recognizable, but I can't think of a single person who isn't exceptional.

The movie is nearly 3 hours long which was a bigger deal upon its release I guess since there weren't as many movies of that length showing back then. Not that I remember, at least. "The Lord of the Rings" movies make this one seem short these days. Despite its length, the movie does not drag at all. The exciting battles and moving drama are spaced perfectly.