The Bruce

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.

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?

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...

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!!

From the annals of Scotish history comes this story and film which tells the legend of Robert " The Bruce (Sandy Welch)." The Scots, having endured years of brutal English rule, once again take up arms against the insufferable tyranny and do so under a new crown king of Scotland. England is ruled by Edward I, the brutal king of England in this film played by Brian Blessed, who plays it to the hilt. Other notables in the film are Oliver Reed and Michael Van Wijk. The movie itself is lased with an assortment of English and Scotish notability, but because the director Bob Carruthers decided to keep all characters in 'scrag' weaponry, motley costumes, shaggy long hair, five day old beards and despicable dress even after war time battles, everyone in the film are terrible looking to the audience members. As such, one can hardly distinguish between friend and for alike. The battle scene are authentic looking, but if you have a 'stop-frame' recorder, you may notice that several combatants fighting each other are not very convincing. In many respects, this movie should follow historically on the footsteps of the Mel Gibson film ' Braveneart. ' As such, the audience does it's best to follow The Bruce with patience and understand. So enjoy it if you can, but don't expect too much. I'll recommend it because the late Oliver reed is in it. ****