The Bruce

To be fair this film was never intended for the big screen, it was made at a time when everyone was buying DVD players and needed to stock up on cheap discs to buff up their collections! Yes it is a bad film, dubious acting, grainy film, and poor battle scenes, but give the film a break, it does have a couple of household names in it, and the history (although slanted and very pro Bruce) is at least far more favourable than its block busting, older sibling 'Braveheart'(which this film is obviously a low budget cash-in of!). Bruce is played competently by Sandy Welch, who portrays the Scottish icon in a sympathetic light, and Pavel Douglas is fantastically over the top as the nasty Red Comyn! Brian Blessed gives a crazy but fulfilling turn as King Edward, and Ollie Reed does good as the bishop! People who are complaining about this film are just negatively comparing it with 'Braveheart', and this is not really fair, the film delivers an account of Robert The Bruce's life, and does so on a very low budget! It is perhaps, too over ambitious, but fitting an epic struggle lasting 25 years into a 110 minute film is reason enough for applause! It would work well as a school film to give kids a history lesson they can expand on later, but its target audience is the couch potato (GUILTY AS CHARGED!), and we don't need $79 million spent on a film, just so long as it tells a good story! Even Wolf from Gladiators gives an OK performance, and if that isn't enough, Robin Hood makes a guest appearance at the end of the film! If its a rainy Wednesday afternoon and the wife is out,and 'Loose Women' is on TV, you will probably be a lot happier giving up an hour and a half on this film than watching the previously mentioned programme!!

What was the most irritating thing about this film?

The appalling acting? The revelation that medieval knights apparently fought with an assortment of *very* wobbly rubber axes and other assorted joke shop armaments (honestly, a Pythonesque cow flip would not have been misplaced). The fact that one of the most important battles in 14th century Europe looked more like a disorganised pub fight, with no discernible cues to the viewer as to who was English or Scottish? The incomprehensibly boring narrative? The most ham-fisted, cheesiest, cliché ridden 'tottie-scone' dialogue, ever?

Perhaps all of the above.

To me, however, there was a general eclipse of all that. It was the following.

The quest for Scottish Independence was decades in the making. It saw some of the most deftifying, heroic, savage, heartbreaking and bloodthirsty history that's ever been. We're talking about a time that, when the Scottish defensive wall at Berwick developed a weak spot, children and woman were sent to fill the place to keep the invader out. Every man, woman and child was at war.

In 1996 Scotland deserved a 'proper' movie. Yes, Braveheart was a movie that *deserved* to be made, in it's identification and selling of Scottish history - I applauded it's success - but in doing so I also openly acknowledged the fact that it was a bad film. A very bad film.

Consequently, 'The Bruce' served only to mutilate and befoul not only history itself, but the chance of one day exploring that history in a better capacity than Braveheart ever did - through film - by simply telling the story (trust me, a Screenwriter's dream - as it is, left well alone) on the back of a good budget and high-profile pitch.

The Director of the Bruce should be trialled for Cultural crimes and then, publicly, carted naked through the old streets of Edinburgh, before slowly being drawn against 'The Maiden'.

Shooting adverts for spam products might have been a challenge for him. Instead, he created the single worst movie on the planet (in every conceivable sense) with material that would have gifted a talented directorial new-start with a plethora of creative devices and opportunity.

In short, I wanted to scoop my own eyes out and replace them with cartoon bomb-jacks. And, in short, he ruined it for real directors of the future.

Reed, Blessed, Welch and van Wijk all turn in quality performances in this under-rated account of Scotland's greatest warrior (are you watching William Wallace?) but one cast member stands head and shoulders above his colleagues. In the final set, Stuart Poole, clad in garb to make Robin Hood jealous, congratulates the Bruce on his vanquishing of the foe. The dignity, grace and emotion evident in Poole's performance is a joy to behold. It's a shame he isn't credited on imdb...

This is not an easy film to follow in the beginning. Granted the period it portrays is also quite confused. The film jumps into events and characters quickly without really allowing one to develop who they are. This is not aided by a poor sound quality which makes it hard to follow dialog and plot at times. I think editing might have hurt this film as well.

The best actor by far is Brian Blessed who steals all the other roles as Edward I (Hammer of the Scots) Again we see a pretty heavy-handed portrayal of this great English King a la Braveheart! Also, as mentioned by the previous reviewer the English are wee bit too evil, and the Scots a wee bit too good! The Bruce for one thing is shown as rather saintly in the film. This he certainly was not! His murder of Comyen the Red in the church abby was certainly one of the more foul acts of the time. The Bruce was no saint, but again he had to be pretty ruthless given the times he lived in.

This was a Cromwell Productions film, and since they did a pretty good historical documentary of the Bruce and Bannockburn in a previous work it is surprising that they white-wash the history so much in this drama here. The battle scene at Bannockburn while good, is not as impressive as billed. For one thing the intervention of the Highland Gillies seems over-done. The battle was largely won by the Scottish Schiltrons long before the surging horde of Highlanders from the bluff above! Also the legendary dual between the Bruce and De Bohan the day before the main battle is completely omitted! This would have made for a splendid movie fight scene and did much to build the Bruce's legend as a great fighter! Instead he kills the English knight during the general melee of the battle. Not as convincing! Those seeking a film above the level of Braveheart wont really find that here. In fact Braveheart while complete fantasy, makes for a more coherent film. The Bruce is a modest work at best. Perhaps it is not surprising that it has all but gone out of print.

I got this film (and an exclusive baseball cap - hence the snazzy tagline above) back in 1996 when I turned 20. Given that Braveheart dominated Scottish cinema - even overshadowing the superior Rob Roy with Liam Neeson and Jessica Lang - a crowd funded production with distinct my mixed values was always going to struggle, no matter how well intentioned.

So I have a little soft spot for an amatuerish, threadbare movie that made a deeply flawed, if honest, attempt to accurately address the historical record during a crucial period of Scotland's history - no easy feat given the fragmented, contradictory, mythical or non - existent accounts of these times. A straightforward telling was never going to be possible.

Although it was a bit of fun watching 1990s pop culture icon Michael Van Wijk aka the villianeous Wolf from ITV's Gladiators, and Scottish folk singer Ronnie Brown (the surviving Corrie), a special nod must be given to Oliver Reed - head and shoulders the best thing about The Bruce. With his quiet, dignified and restrained performance was Reed showing us what he was capable of as an actor - preparation for an first class swansong with a Gladiator of a different kind?