One thing The Patriot does really well is to make viewers align with the soon-to-be Americans by portraying the British as a bunch of sadists who want to murder every American sympathizer they come across. There's only one problem with that: It's not true. Sure, there are soldiers hiding in the ranks of every army who want nothing more than to do cruel things to other human beings, but that's not usually the case. For instance, take British Colonel Tavington, played by Jason Isaac. Tavington is based on a real-life British soldier named Banastre Tarleton. Tarleton wasn't exactly the greatest of guys. He was known, according to The Baltimore Sun, to let his troops kill surrendering or wounded soldiers, but the film makes Tavington's character an absolute monster. He shoots kids, kills prisoners, and sends an entire church of people up in flames. None of which the real Tarleton is known to have done.
As for the Brits as a whole, the movie paints a picture of stuck-up war criminals. In fact, Tavington is accused in the film of breaking "the rules of war," but, as The Guardian points out, the rules of war weren't even a thing until the Geneva Convention nearly a century later.
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