'PATRIOT' NO HISTORY LESSON, BUT STILL QUITE A SPECTACLE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

When they make films about the birth of our nation that try to be thoughtful, like ``Revolution'' and ``Jefferson in Paris,'' the results tend to be very bad. So now they've made one where thinking is a secondary consideration, if even that, and the outcome is, if not really better, at least rather fun.

The key image in Roland Emmerich's long, unwieldy and resolutely superficial ``The Patriot'' is not of Mel Gibson waving various early combinations of red, white and blue, nor even of his face covered in crimson blood to evoke fond memories of the Pictish warpaint he wore in the just as dumb but cooler ``Braveheart.'' No, the telling shot here is of a Continental soldier's head getting knocked off by a British cannonball. It nicely encapsulates the film's anything-for-an-effect ethos and, of course, symbolically comments on the filmmaker's opinion of the picture's perfect audience (right before the decapitation, there's a subjective shot of the projectile barreling right at us).

The rest of the movie is more subtle, if only incrementally. But Emmerich, whose gift for action staging and visual splendor counterbalances his tendencies to simplify and pander, often sweeps us along with pure spectacle. ``The Patriot'' is a gorgeous film - just, like too many pretty things, emptier than it aspires to be.

Gibson's Benjamin Martin is a South Carolina widower with seven children and - in a flagrant attempt to avoid anything resembling honest or, God forbid, complicated social history - a plantation worked by ``free'' blacks. Of course, Frances Marion, the Revolutionary figure Martin is clearly based on, was as fervently committed to slavery as he was to killing redcoats, an attitude likely shared by most of his fellow Southern landowners in the 18th century.

But that's a different, contradictory movie, and the last thing a filmmaker like Germany's Emmerich - whose usual speed is pop-culture pastiches like ``Independence Day'' and the ``Godzilla'' remake - wants to do is challenge anyone's complacency. So Martin is not only incredibly ahead of his time, racial enlightenment-wise, he's also All About Family.

Which we all know is really important. Maybe the most important thing. Along with, maybe, freedom and stuff. And paying fewer taxes.

See, even though he was a holy terror in the French and Indian wars, Martin is reluctant to join the rebellion for the sake of his children. He's also, it's bludgeoningly hinted, a little worried about turning back into the brutal killer he became in the earlier conflict. Indeed, it's the same psychic no-man's-land Clint Eastwood explored so brilliantly against the backdrop of frontier capitalism in ``Unforgiven,'' and it would have been very interesting to examine how that kind of violent nature fit into the idealistic struggle to create the first modern democratic republic.

But no; Martin only goes Mad Max when despicable Brits terrorize his kids, which essentially lets him off any ethical hook. With his Cherokee tomahawk and ragtag band of backwater militia, Martin essentially invents modern guerrilla warfare and harasses an uncomprehending Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson, self-parodying stuffiness with a deft intelligence that comes from a whole other movie) all the way from Charleston to Yorktown. During downtimes between ambushes, of which there are plenty, Martin bonds with his oldest son/second-in-command Gabriel (Heath Ledger, another Aussie), makes tentative passes at his just-waiting sister-in-law (Joely Richardson, who is English) and tries to get his mute youngest daughter to say she loves Daddy (I think the girl who plays her might actually be American).

In contrast to well-meaning, slightly psychotic family man Martin, the main British villain, Reinhard Heydrich ... er, that is, dragoon Col. William Tavington (Jason Isaacs), likes to ride around the countryside slaughtering entire communities at a time. While such depredations have certainly accompanied military actions from Carthage through Mongol invasions to the Thirty Years War, you'd think that if such Nazi-like atrocities had occurred during our war of independence, they might have made their way into the national lore before now. Really makes you dislike Tavington, though, which - it could safely be argued - was the point.

So, you wonder, what on Earth is right about ``The Patriot''? Good gory battle scenes, first and foremost (the raid Martin takes two of his youngest sons - the only allies around who can handle muskets - on is particularly chilling). Though not quite as visceral as ``Braveheart's'' best, nor as appallingly wasteful as the point blank exchanges in the Civil War drama ``Glory,'' they convincingly evoke the futility of fighting superior forces with conventional methods. Conversely, we're given a clear understanding of how imagination and surprise can be a general's greatest weapons. Plus, all those blue and red uniforms blood-up real pretty.

There's also a nice ration of sly humor to counterpoint the grim and sentimental goings-on. ``Patriot's'' script is credited to Robert Rodat, whose screenplay for ``Saving Private Ryan'' had its share of detractors, but compared to this melodrama, it clearly stands out as a rigorous and complex study of men fighting the good fight despite what it does to them.

But if ``The Patriot'' is cartoon history, at least it's full of color and motion like a good cartoon should be. Enjoy the spectacle, let the cheap emotions touch you if they can ... but don't forget to duck that cannonball.

THE FACTS

--The film: ``The Patriot'' (R; violence, language, children in jeopardy).

--The stars: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs, Tom Wilkinson, Joely Richardson, Chris Cooper, Tcheky Karyo.

--Behind the scenes: Directed by Roland Emmerich. Written by Robert Rodat. Produced by Dean Devlin, Mark Gordon and Gary Levinsohn. Released by Columbia Pictures.

--Running time: Two hours, 38 minutes.

--Playing: Citywide.

--Our rating: Three stars

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: Fellow Aussie Heath Ledger, left, plays Mel Gibson's oldest son and the second-in-command during the Revolutionary War in ``The Patriot.''

Box: THE FACTS (see text)