The success of Angus Macfadyen’s labour of love Robert The Bruce, developed over a thirteen year period with assistance from screenwriter Eric Belgau under the direction of Richard Gray, lies more in the mettle of its characters than the metal of its swordplay.

Sure, there is a terrifically choreographed fight; but it is towards the end of the movie, by which time the inner world and motivations of the combatants have been fleshed out against the largely Montana-based backdrop of John Garrett’s earthy cinematography.

What’s important is not the brandishing of a blade, but the reawakening of a drive for independence within the spider-inspired Bruce, his brave soldiers and loyal supporters, headed respectively by Diarmaid Murtagh’s courageous James Douglas and the extended family of Anna Hutchison’s caring if Colgate-smiling Morag.

“There is not an Englishman in sight,” said Macfadyen in a recent press conference. Deliberately so. For the future of Bruce’s Scotland, like that of Sturgeon’s, depends on a battle of ideas between the hackneyed “people of Scotland” (with youth and female participation at the core of both the movie and the current political campaign) rather than a burning sense of grievance towards English rule.

It is an age before the doubt-ridden Bruce gives voice to his thoughts. And when he does, it is no bellowing call to arms à la Mel Gibson in Braveheart. But guttural reflections from a battle-weary soul which weigh the cost of sacrifice against the value of freedom to inspire war-torn clans to march in support of a “Scotland clutched in the grip of a mighty hand”.

Beautifully scored by Mel Elias and with excellent performances throughout including a fleeting but fiery curtain-raiser by Jared Harris as Bruce’s rival John Comyn and terrific turns by a string of child actors, Robert The Bruce is no tub-thumping blockbuster as the trailer and title suggests, but a well-crafted slow-burner which though low in budget is high on quality and sure to galvanise #the45 and rising in support of independence.

For as a recurring poem proclaims: The spider’s web must be spun / The king’s delight must be undone / The lost soul’s journey must be won / The song of justice must be sung.

Director: Richard Gray
Writers: Eric Belgau, Angus Macfadyen (Written by)
Stars: Gabriel Bateman, Talitha Eliana Bateman, Macaulay Callard
Peter Callaghan
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