What We Inherit From the Past

Power, Progress & The American Present The 1995 movie Braveheart opens not with a bloody battle, but with a stern warning to posterity. The film features panoramic views of the Scottish Highlands, a vast, rugged land shrouded in mist and bathed in the natural glow of the sun. The formidable landscape is made up of rolling hills, deep valleys and distant mountains painted in muted earth tones—pale grays, dark greens and weathered browns blended to capture the beauty and harshness of the terrain. As the camera glides over the Highlands, the film’s score unleashes a slow, haunting melody that immediately draws the…