Braveheart

Mel Gibson's tale of William Wallace leading his Scottish country men to freedom is, simply put, one of the greatest (and most inaccurate) films I have seen, and James Horner’s Academy Award Nominated score (1995) deserves none other than just that praise; beautiful, tearfully mournful, inspirational, touching and glorious, it is without doubt one of Horner’s greatest contribution to film. The score could not have been more effective or moving. Brings me to tears.

To start off you really can’t appreciate the majesty of this work unless you've seen the film. I listened to the score for years and it was decent, but when I viewed the film I witnessed the music to its perfection because the emotion of the score is tied to the emotion of the film.

Every great film has a main title and Horner’s Main Title perfectly sets the mood for the film. The bagpipes play the main theme as spectacular landscapes of Scotland are shown emphasizing its beauty and purity. From the first landscape shown and the first sound of the pipes you love Scotland. Into its latter half, it transitions into strings, grows mournful, setting the stage for the sadness that will hit in the very beginning of the film, and lastly displays a horn solo.  

A Gift a Thistle is breathtaking. The scene is simply beautiful. Young Wallace watches his father’s burial with a tearless determined stare and a piercing glint is seen in his eyes. Shot in semi slow motion, young Murron (Wallace's future wife) bends down and picks a thistle and slowly draws close to Wallace. The moment Murran picks the thistle the Love Theme is witnessed. The song begins playing the theme with a flute and then clearly presents the cue with a bagpipe and harp accompaniment. Murron looks into his eyes and presents him with the thistle, thus sowing the seeds of love and laying the groundwork for the rest of the film. Interestingly, only half of the love theme is played here. The theme simply shows the love that will grow, but not the grief that will accompany it. Scotland is displayed in the background, and the flower is so touching and meaningful it shatters Wallace’s stony disposition, allowing him to weep over his father’s death. The cue drove the emotion of the film so poignantly and strikingly, leaving me in tears by the beauty of only ten minutes of film.

The film transitions to Wallace, now in the prime of his life, planning to marry and begin the life of a farmer uninvolved with political turmoil. Wallace Courts Murron concentrates on the love theme that was presented in A Gift Of a Thistle. Wallace pursues a relationship with his childhood, thistle giving, admirer Murron riding together around the Scottish countryside. As their love grows, the pleasant cue transitions from emphasization of bagpipes, to flute, and finally to a full orchestra in which Wallace proposes to Murron. 

In The Secret Wedding Horner expands on Wallace and Murron’s theme and adds a whole dimension to it. The main theme is repeated again with a stuttering flute and then, from 1m 40s through 2m 30s, in the same style, the latter half of what will be the love theme from Braveheart is presented. To protect Murron, Wallace marries her in secret; holding a rather earthy ceremony in the woods. The flute gorgeously displays the theme in a light compassionate manner while the strings, gradually intensifying, emphasize the brooding sadness. Horner magnificently sets the stage for this film. The cue effective emotionally connects the viewer with Wallace’s love for Murron and his passion, strength, and desire to be excluded from political turmoil. The theme is repeated in For the Love of a Princess with very similar movements to The Secret Wedding, but halfway through the theme grows more mournful, and then lastly more confidently displays the fullest of Braveheart’s Love Theme at 3m.

Accompanying the murder of Wallace’s wife, Attack on Murron presents the first tense piece of music of the score. A brooding horn is witnessed followed by a steady drum beat leading unto a harsher, more steady, version of the main love theme. Revenge follows as Wallace and local peasants overthrow the local English garrison. Increasing repetition of heavy drums, synthesizers, and ethnic instruments violently emphasize Wallace’s passionate anger and fearless resolve to overthrow, capture, and bring to death the slayer of his beloved. While both songs aren't memorable highlights of the score, the cues do their job to propel a rather traumatic portion of the film.

Grief overwhelms Wallace as Murron’s Burial commences. The main love theme is heard again as Wallace mourns the death of his beloved wife. Drawing near to Murron’s father, Wallace without uttering words requests forgiveness for her death as he reverently kneels before him in submission. Murron’s father holds a stark cold stare as the strings intensify the theme, and in increasing volume sustain it as Murron’s father tentatively reaches forward and lays his hand on Wallace's head. The touch, signifying his forgiveness, immediately releases the passionate sustain of the theme on the strings; the song then mellowing out.

What makes Horner’s work here so different is his ability to intensify and expand themes. Not only is the love theme heart wrenching and at the same time gorgeously passionate, Horner expands it throughout the film. The brief moment of sustain in Murron’s Burial, while simple, is a perfect example of change in a given cue. As stories unravel and progress so should themes. Bottom line: Expansion or strengthening of a theme emotionally connects the viewer with a given climax or subclimax of a film.

Beginning with a somewhat similar ominence found in Revenge, Making Plans, Gathering the Clans then transitions at 1m into a bagpipe swifty fluttering a variation of the main theme as the neighboring clans gather to form Wallace’s rebel army. The Legend Spreads is very similar only with a more powerful string accompaniment. Both are effective and unique cues.

Sons of Scotland features the first piece of inspiring music audible in the film. Beginning with a drum beat, it climaxes in the middle with the introduction of the Freedom Theme. “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!” yells Williams Wallace with passion, conviction and unmatched courage to his outnumbered troops before the Battle of Stirling. The strings play a short yet dramatic cue related to other cues of the score but with a sharp distinctive difference. Hope.

Braveheart is saturated with tragedy from the very beginning to the very end. What’s incredible is it’s ability to inspire in face of it. The idea that freedom is worth dying for inspires us. In the face of death, his wife’s death, and his country's brutal captivity Wallace has hope and it’s ground shaking. The theme perfectly complements the mournful portions of the film and presents needed contrast and inspiration.

Following Wallace's speech the Battle of Stirling commences. The first 3.5m is a mixture of tensious drum beats, bag pipes, and strings audited during the battle. The battle comes to a close, and as the Scots realize their victory a single horn plays the main theme and transitions triumphantly into the Freedom Theme, this time played longer, with more passion, vigor, and hope than previously heard in Sons of Scotland. The unexplainable awe emoted from this portion of the film and the respect it presents for the values of freedom, honor, and courage is truly impressive. Horner’s score is an unchangeable factor in the viewer accurately feeling the impact of the core elements of this epic.

Falkirk is a rather frenetic piece played before the battle of Falkirk. None of the main themes are displayed. Money’s Dream resembles the last half of Falkirk. Both are effective cues in their context but don’t hold only memorable moments.

Betrayal and Desolation opens with a slow drum beat with a heart wrenching string movement that follows throughout most of the the song as Wallace's allies abandon him leaving the battle for the English to take with a swift hand. The movements are very striking and encapsulate the grief the betrayal causes Wallace. A tense cue is heard from 2:30m-3:30m as the Scots are routed, but my personal favorite moment follows as Wallace discovers Robert the Bruce’s betrayal. Falling to the ground, Wallace is pierced; the Love Theme now audible in an even slower more mournful demonstration then heard in The Secret Wedding. Little is said between them, but the cue powerfully displays Wallace's grief and more importantly Robert’s remorse. A riveting piece of orchestration.

Accompanied with a soft harp, The Princess Pleads for Wallace's Life is a short melodic track demonstrating a variation of the Main Theme through a stuttering flute. A peaceful song illustrating the princess's love for Wallace and her attempt to save his life.

I can think of few songs in the vast field of film music displaying more awe, beauty, and determination than Braveheart’s conclusion cue Freedom, The Execution, Bannockburn. The setting leaves Wallace captured by the English and sentenced to a torturous death unless he submits to the King. As the process begins the scene (showing only his upper half hiding the details of his torture) focuses on Wallace’s fearless forward glare; emphasizing his determination and will. The song begins with a piercingly inspirational flute with a soft string movement flowing into a stronger build up with deep set drums repeating again and again a cue as Wallace holds in his anguish. For 1:50m Wallace gathers up strength to speak and as Wallace shouts, “FREEDOM” in a long determined bellow the cue climaxes into the Freedom Theme played for the third and last time. The theme is heard more passionately than before now driving the very heart of the scene and the climax of the film without compromise or blemish.

Wallace is dying and yet we are filled with awe and inspiration. This is the beauty of James Horner, who fills us with a deep respect for one who dies for fellow Scotsmen, his values, and his country. We respect his honor and just as the Freedom Theme plays as Wallace rallies his men with courage before and after Stirling so does it play ever more passionately as Wallace inspires valor in us as we witness him in the face of death triumph in his heart over the captors of his beloved Scotland. Horner could not have written a work that propelled the emotion of the epic more poignantly. 

From 2:40m-3:30m the Love Theme is heard for the last time as Wallace remembers Murron, imagining her in the crowd of onlookers. Wallace presents a final content smile as the executioner takes his life. 3:30m-4:30m presents a low drum roll and then transitions into the Main Theme; the cue building from 4:30m-6m. As Robert the Bruce relates, “In the year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland, starving and outnumbered, charged the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets. They fought like Scotsmen. And won their freedom” the cue climaxes into a magnificently triumphant display of Braveheart’s Main Theme, the strings, bagpipes, and drums in full swing as the Scots charge the fields and the film closes. This last presentation of the Main Theme is breathtaking and successfully ties the whole film together emoting a lasting compelling impression.

End Credits incorporates a number of the themes into a very pleasant ending suite for the credits. More importantly, it doesn't cut from any portion of the score. Horner writes a completely stand alone song displaying unique variations of the themes in an uplifting and inspiring manner.

"One of the most compelling pieces 

of orchestration for film"

Few scores written for film in my opinion capture the heart of a film as well as James Horner’s score for Braveheart. It’s an overwhelming 5 star score and ranks as one of my favorite scores of all time. It’s beauty, it’s sorrow, and it’s inspiration. One of the most compelling pieces of orchestration for film. Not only is Horner's work beautiful it changes and expands as the film progresses. The love theme is lightly heard first in A Gift of a Thistle and then expanded on in Wallace Courts Murron. But Horner didn’t stop there. The Secret Wedding adds a whole new aspect to the theme weaving the tragic aspect of Murron and Wallace’s marriage with the power of his courage. The theme is heard to it’s fullest in For the Love of a Princess and reprises in Freedom, The Execution, Bannockburn as Wallace comes to peace with his life; smiling as it is taken. The Freedom Theme is heard three times each time goring stronger climaxing as the film comes together magnificently as Wallace, in the act of ding, defies submission, cruelty, and oppression. James Horner creates themes successfully paralleling the story and then utilizes them to their fullest potential; each theme heard in it’s fullest and most compelling form.

"Every man dies, not every man really lives” - William Wallace