Using a film of your choice to illustrate your arguments, explore the relation between visual representation and national identity.

Having seen the film 'Brave Heart' by Mel Gibson, I was greatly inspired to discuss the issues brought up by Anthony Smith in his essay entitled 'Cinema, art and national identity' in the light of this film. Smith's argument is that in paintings, historical views of a nation convey a variety of meanings and emotions when put within a frame. Film too performs this task however allowing the expansion of boundaries within which these meanings …

…presented in lavish, clean clothing, with stern and proud faces, surrounded in riches which reflect their dominant nature. Having said all this, one might ask how important is cinema's role in depicting national identity? And how accurate is it? Cinema only shows the glorification of a nation and disregards the shames. Therefore can one conclude that nations are based on false and concocted facts? If so, can we then truly call a nation a nation?