Revolution

Revolution (1985) is Hugh Hudson's historical drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. New York trapper Tom Dobb wants no part of any war. He buried his wife and most of his children, and he lives only for Ned, the son he has left. Then recruiters press the boy into the colonists' army, and Tom follows just to stay near him.

That's how a withdrawn woodsman gets pulled into the fight of the thirteen colonies against the British crown — first for his son, later because he comes to believe in the cause himself. Beside him stands Daisy, a wealthy young woman who breaks with her own class to join the rebels. Farmers and craftsmen go up against drilled redcoat regiments, and the road from Lexington to victory turns out long and bloody. Al Pacino plays Tom, Nastassja Kinski is Daisy, and Donald Sutherland is the brutal Sergeant Major Peasy.

Hudson, who made Chariots of Fire, frames the war not through generals but through one ordinary man it grinds down. The picture flopped hard and nearly derailed Pacino's career, yet it has since picked up defenders who prize its muddy, unvarnished realism. Watch this for the birth of America stripped of pageantry. Stream Revolution (1985) online on iFILM.