Controversy has surrounded Mel Gibson's new film 'The Patriot' ever since its release.

The movie had been plagued with stories of the producers taking far too much license with history, allegations of the lead character being a racist, Mel Gibson being anti-English, etc, etc.

In 'The Patriot', Mel Gibson ('Braveheart', 'Ransom', 'Payback') takes on the British in the American Independence War. And after his second movie (the first was 'Braveheart') where the English are the bad guys, fans are starting to wonder whether he has something against the English.

But Gibson says, "Come on, we're giving the Germans a break. Someone's got to be the bad guy in the movies. And really, everybody did something horrible to somebody else. The Vikings used to beat up the English, the Germans beat up the French and the French used to beat up the Romans. And not to forget, the Americans used to burn Vietnamese villages."

'The Patriot' is currently playing in Malaysian cinemas.