Movie critique analysis and themes

¶ … National Treasure

The Liberalism in National Treasure

The movie National Treasure has a liberalism that captures the passion of the founding fathers of the United States, specifically their pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence, the symbol of American freedom and in many countries, the model of democracy and human rights, is the focus of the entire movie. This symbol of American freedom, and its liberation from being static and lifeless to being alive again is a strong undercurrent in this move. Ben Gates' many exploits during the movie ironically mirrors the same progression of events for Benjamin Franklin and his pivotal role in the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

The allegorical link of Ben Gate to Ben Franklin is made complete with the analysis of the Silence Dogood Letters a young Benjamin Franklin wrote as a joke to play on his brother. This symbolic tie-in is excellently done in both the script and the actual production by having the words of Benjamin Franklin make the Declaration of Independence come alive, and re-invigorate even the most jaded and sarcastic critics of the idea of the Declaration having any true message. This is exemplified in Ben's father eventually becoming a believer again. There are many other instances of this re-invigoration of the Declaration in the movie.

This concept of freedom being liberated by a common man, Ben Gates, anchors the film and serves as its foundation. Building on top of this premise, the film continues to define the many aspects of liberalism.

First, there is the legacy of the Knights Templar from the Middle Ages, one of the more well-known military orders that participated in the Crusades and credited with creating the first concepts of the banking, are mentioned as the initiators of the fortune. Over the centuries the Templar's fortune gets transferred to the United States, and as the nation is on the gold standard at that time, forms the basis of the collateral to begin the government. Why the film shows liberalism at this point is in its definition of the secret order of the Knights Templar being inter-related to the beginnings of the U.S. It is common knowledge that in colonial England and its colonies (including the U.S.) and France that the most influential and elite members of society belonged to these secret societies.

The fact that Ben Gates even knows about the Knights Templar being the accumulators and transferors of the fortune happens by accident centuries before. What this chain of events supports in the film is the fact that it was inevitable that the fortune would be discovered by a common man, not a member of the elite. In the eventual discovery of the treasure and the closing scene where its shared that the artifacts have been distributed among museums of the world, the cycle comes complete. Instead of having been sold for only personal gain, the treasure itself is liberated for the outside world to use in analyzing the interlinking of many historical events; the artifacts themselves and their historical significance become the treasure, not merely their market price. In this basic fact communicated in the last scene of the movie the liberalism does become complete - what had been a priceless fortune becomes a foundation for learning for centuries to come. When Ben Gates and his other protagonists in the film get a finder's fee is incidental to the wealth of knowledge the treasures' many artifacts bring to future generations.

The conflicts in the film also support its liberalism. When the Silence Dogood letters are on display in Philadelphia, the young black child is sent it to decipher the letter counts that correspond to the back of the Declaration of Impendence. This alone is a powerful image of civil rights, yet the scene evolves into one of the chief antagonist of the film trying to intercept the secret codes from the child. These codes are critical to unlocking the anagram on the back of the Declaration and while the antagonists succeed in learning from the boy what he is doing, Ben Gates' team misses being captured. This tension in the film continues with the conflict centering on knowledge of the treasure, and all along the real treasure is freedom.

The many explosive scenes that Director Jerry Bruckheimer is famous for also underscore the liberalism within this film. Starting with the first explosive scene where the Charlotte, an ancient whaling ship that contains a critical piece of evidence that will be used for solving another clue leading to the location of the map of the Templar's fortune. The center of conflict in this scene leads to the destruction of invaluable historical artifacts as Gates' character battles for the knowledge to find the treasure and with it, the freedom of his family being absolved of generations of ridicule. The conflict centers on greed vs. The greater good, and in the case of the explosion and nearly fatal conflicts at the Charlotte, freedom again escapes yet barely. The pursuit of the Templar's treasure for the gain to mankind in the end escapes multiple conflict-filled scenes, each leading closer to the liberation of the fortune for the benefit of mankind and use in understanding previous civilizations.

The conflict within Gates himself is also fascinating. After having decided that the best strategy is to steal the Declaration of Independence before the antagonists do Gates stands in the display room and over a glass of champagne states in a toast to the signers of the Declaration of Independence the following dialogue:

toast yeah? To High Treason. That's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration. Had they lost more they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered and oh, oh, my personal favorite, had their entrails cut out and burned! So, here's to the men who did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right. What they knew was right."