ClanDonald

As far as characters, storylines, and production quality are concerned, the "Monarch of the Glen" is indistinguishable from virtually every other British series. What makes it repugnant is the basic premise - that of an English aristocratic family claiming to be "Highland chiefs".

This is based on a small group of ageing Englishmen in the UK given titles like "Lord" or "Chief of the name" by none other than the British court(!), while genuine MacDonalds are conveniently exiles in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, partly due to the actions of the ancestors of these faux chiefs. Anything that celebrates this pompous, triumphalist group of people who seem to think Queen Victoria is still on the throne is highly offensive. Worse still, fake and sanitised "history" of "Clan MacDonald" has occasionally been presented on the programme, in one episode from a silly man with an aristocratic English accent wearing a grotesque tacky fake plaid get-up.

If there were a series like this in the USA or Canada showing a cadre of arrogant Ivy-league educated WASPs purporting to be "Red Indian Chiefs" marching around in commercialised fake "Indian feathers", plastic moccasins and stainless steel tomahawks downplaying such history as the Trail of Tears, it would get the intense criticism and legal challenges it deserves - and probably never have a second show, let alone season. Sadly, equivalent rubbish is allowed to flourish in the UK.

This film is a very enlightening glimpse into Britain's paranoid ideas during the Cold War.

Right-wing English ultranationalist Frederick Forsyth makes it a point to have human rights activist Kim Philby brutally murdered in the beginning of the story, and voices of dissent against Thatcher's heavy handed regime painted as fools.

The KGB is portrayed through silly stereotype and myth. KGB officers are shown killing each other, something that may happen in the UDA/UFF, but not the KGB.

Essentially a nationalist propaganda piece, the film does have some strong points, including a superb cast.

The plight of Australia's indigenous people is shown through the struggle of three sisters, lead by the clever and capable Molly Craig.

The cinematography and musical score add layers of depth to an already powerful true and tragic story. I doubt I could run out of good things to say about this film.

The suffering of Molly Craig and her sisters are but one example of a long history of racism, persecution and cultural annihilation enthusiastically practised by the British Empire. Nineteenth century English scholars believed different ethnic groups had varying levels of average intelligence; the Australian Aborigine was thought to be little more intelligent than apes while the English were unsurprisingly purported to be geniuses. Mr. Neville was not devising his own theories, but rather drawing on a longstanding British tradition.