Rob Roy McGregor And His Clan example essay topic

[Brief Summary of Film] The film begins with the description of the state affairs in Scotland at the turn of the 18th century, and it takes place in the Scottish highlands of Scotland. We get a brief glimpse of life among the clans during this time period, and then we get a look at the new capitalists, commercial society that is destined to replace it. During this we see the British nobles, whose pockets are so full of money, the can afford to argue about how much money they are going to take from one another. Leading the British nobles is James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, and his Lieutenant Cunningham who is rather good with his sword. We are then introduced to Rob Roy McGregor and his clan, which includes his wife Mary, and his friend McDonald. Rob Roy is faced with extreme poverty in his clan so he decides to borrow a whole lot of money from James Graham in order to purchase cattle with the aspirations of selling it to make a bit of profit.

Unknowing to McGregor and McDonald, Graham and Cunningham has set a trap for the men. The money that was requested by Rob Roy was sent with McDonald. On the way back McDonald is slain by Cunningham and his body is sank to the bottom of the sea. Unknowing to Rob Roy, McDonald is said to be missing and Graham assesses that he has ran off with the money never to be seen again which leaves him the opportunity to find Rob Roy. He tries to make a deal with McGregor and tells him that the money can be forgiven if he slanders the Duke of Argyle, which happens to be the archenemy of Graham.

The noble Scotsman refuses to do such a thing and he is forced to become an outlaw. Graham then truly tests the clan leaders strength by going after the one thing that he loves the most- his wife and his two young sons. [Characterization of the Film's Achievement] The viewer learns about the trials and tribulations that the lower class society faced during the early 1700's and mostly throughout the entire 18th century due to the tyranny that the British hierarchy placed on the peoples of Scotland. It is evident that the higher-class peoples, during this time, thought of themselves as a better, more astute group of people and they felt as though they could do what they wished with the lower class people. The nobles portrayed in this film happened to come across the wrong commoner. However, as history would have it, it's assumed that not many people stood up against the tyranny that they faced as Rob Roy did in the movie.

[Scenes from the Film] One scene that I thought was beneficial to the movies success, was the very first scene of the film. The viewer is introduced to a big group of Nobles who are "living the good life" then we are introduced to Rob Roy's clan and we see a daylight and dark difference between the two lifestyles. This portrays an accurate description of the way of life in Scotland during this time. These rich nobles were never hungry and always had money in their pockets, and the poverty stricken community farmed and done whatever was necessary in order to survive. Another scene that I felt was important to the film was when Rob Roy was with his son, and his son asks him, "Daddy, what is honor". Rob makes it a point to sit down with his son and explain to him exactly what honor was.

This father-son moment in the film portrays Liam Neeson's character perfectly. He shows his son that honor is something that can't be taken away and is something that everyone can and should possess. The very word "honor" that is the basis of the Neeson's character and this scene proves it. [Information from Film Reviews] A review from the American Historical review talks about how many of the historical films possess "Issues of historical accuracy, bias, and knowledge", The review says that this is the approach taken in Rob Roy. I have to disagree with this statement.

I feel that Rob Roy was an excellent description of the way of life in the 1700's. The film portrayed the poverty stricken Scots in an excellent fashion. The only thing that I felt that this film lacked was the influence of the rest of the cast. In watching this film I felt that it centered around Liam Neeson's character entirely too much.

Neeson was definitely the star throughout this film. Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times describes the movie as "a fabulous entertainment". He especially describes the Acton sequence of the sword fights between Cunningham and Rob Roy. He describes this as one of the "great action sequences in movie history". I have to agree with Roger Ebert in this respect. The sword duels were especially attracting to the viewer and I feel that these sequences make this movie into something more than another boring historical film..