The film, which was produced by Gibson's Icon Productions and The Ladd Company, was distributed by Paramount Pictures in the United States and Canada and by 20th Century Fox internationally.

Young William Wallace witnesses the aftermath of Longshanks' execution of several Scottish nobles, then loses his father and brother when they resist the English.

Years later, Longshanks grants his noblemen land and privileges in Scotland, including jus primae noctis, while his son marries French princess Isabelle.

During the battle, nobles Mornay and Lochlan withdraw, having been bribed by Longshanks, resulting in Wallace's army being overwhelmed.

After Wallace's sword is thrown to land point-down in the ground, Robert leads the Scots to a final victory.

Braveheart premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 18, 1995, and received its wide release in U.S. cinemas six days later.

The website's consensus reads: "Distractingly violent and historically dodgy, Mel Gibson's Braveheart justifies its epic length by delivering enough sweeping action, drama, and romance to match its ambition.

"[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

"[26] Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, calling it "An action epic with the spirit of the Hollywood swordplay classics and the grungy ferocity of The Road Warrior.

"[27] In a positive review, Gene Siskel wrote that "in addition to staging battle scenes well, Gibson also manages to recreate the filth and mood of 700 years ago.

"[28] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt that "though the film dawdles a bit with the shimmery, dappled love stuff involving Wallace with a Scottish peasant and a French princess, the action will pin you to your seat.

"[31] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle felt "at times the film seems an obsessive ode to Mel Gibson machismo.

[34] Alex von Tunzelmann of The Guardian gave the film a grade of C−, saying: "Seemingly intended as a piece of anti-English propaganda, Braveheart offers an even greater insult to Scotland by making a total pig's ear of its heritage.

Well, that's me told: but, regardless of whether you read English or Scottish historians on the matter, Braveheart still serves up a great big steaming haggis of lies.."[35] In a 2012 article, Nathan Kamal called the film "hugely overrated", criticizing the characters as one-dimensional.

as a major competitor to films such as Apollo 13, Il Postino: The Postman, Leaving Las Vegas, Sense and Sensibility, and The Usual Suspects.

[47] Lin Anderson, author of Braveheart: From Hollywood To Holyrood, credits the film with playing a significant role in affecting the Scottish political landscape in the mid- to late 1990s.

The Economist called it "xenophobic",[50] and John Sutherland writing in The Guardian stated that: "Braveheart gave full rein to a toxic Anglophobia".

The installation became the cause of much controversy; one local resident stated that it was wrong to "desecrate the main memorial to Wallace with a lump of crap".

[61][63] Sharon Krossa noted that the film contains numerous historical inaccuracies, beginning with the wearing of belted plaid (feileadh mór léine), which was not introduced until the 16th century,[64] by Wallace and his men.

[61] In the humorous non-fictional historiography An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (2007), author John O'Farrell claims that Braveheart could not have been more historically inaccurate, even if a Plasticine dog had been inserted in the film and the title changed to "William Wallace and Gromit".

[61] Edward Longshanks is shown invoking Jus primae noctis in the film, allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters on their wedding nights.

In fact, Scotland had been invaded by England only the year before Wallace's rebellion; before the death of King Alexander III it had been a fully separate kingdom.

[73] As John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett writes, "Because [William] Wallace is one of Scotland's most important national heroes and because he lived in the very distant past, much that is believed about him is probably the stuff of legend.

But there is a factual strand that historians agree to", summarized from Scots scholar Matt Ewart: Wallace was born into the gentry of Scotland; his father lived until he was 18, his mother until his 24th year; he killed the sheriff of Lanark when he was 27, apparently after the murder of his wife; he led a group of commoners against the English in a very successful battle at Stirling in 1297, temporarily receiving appointment as guardian; Wallace's reputation as a military leader was ruined in the same year of 1297, leading to his resignation as guardian; he spent several years of exile in France before being captured by the English at Glasgow, this resulting in his trial for treason and his cruel execution.[74]A.

E. Christa Canitz writes about the historical William Wallace further: "[He] was a younger son of the Scottish gentry, usually accompanied by his own chaplain, well-educated, and eventually, having been appointed Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland, engaged in diplomatic correspondence with the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck and Hamburg".

She finds that in Braveheart, "any hint of his descent from the lowland gentry (i.e., the lesser nobility) is erased, and he is presented as an economically and politically marginalized Highlander and 'a farmer'—as one with the common peasant, and with a strong spiritual connection to the land which he is destined to liberate.

"[76] Canitz posits that depicting "such lack of class solidarity" as the conscriptions and related hangings "would contaminate the movie's image of Wallace as the morally irreproachable primus inter pares among his peasant fighters.

[77][61] The breakdown of the couple's relationship over his liaisons, and the menacing suggestion to a dying Longshanks that she would overthrow and destroy Edward II mirror and foreshadow actual facts; although not until 1326, over 20 years after Wallace's death, Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer would depose – and later allegedly murder – Edward II.

Edward enjoyed poetry and harp music, was a devoted and loving husband to his wife Eleanor of Castile, and as a religious man, he gave generously to charity; the film's scene where he scoffs cynically at Isabella for distributing gold to the poor after Wallace refuses it as a bribe would have been unlikely.

[88]In response to Longshanks's murder of the Prince's male lover Phillip, Gibson replied: "The fact that King Edward throws this character out a window has nothing to do with him being gay ...