Outlaw King.

On the eve of Scotland’s Referendum in 2014 it was alleged that the then UK Prime Minister David Cameron banned the showing of Mel Gibson’s movie Braveheart on British TV. The reason was said to be that the showing of this movie with evoke even greater support for Scottish independence, something that this proud nation had been trying to win back for over 300 years.

 

The Crowning of the King of the Scots.

After watching the TV premier of Outlaw King on Netflix I would think this movie, far more than Gibson’s 1995 inaccurate portrayal of William Wallace and the Battle of Stirling Bridge, would evoke a far greater feeling of national pride and would be just the right evenings entertainment on the eve of the next Independence Referendum which is sure to follow the Brexit debacle by the English Tory government.

David Mackenzie’s adventurous and well acted movie movie tells how in 1306 Edward 1 of England laid a blanket of persecution across Scotland and its nobility including the future King of the Scots - Robert the Bruce. That was until the news that Wallace’s had been hung drawn and quartered in London. This horrific news again lit the spark of revolution into the minds of the Scottish people. Following the murder of John Comyn it fell to Robert, after being crowned at Scone, to lead his people once more into battle against their evil oppressors. There followed the Battle of Loudoun Hill in May 1307.  The battle is depicted on screen with no regard for the squeamish.

 

Robert the Bruce still stands guard outside Stirling Castle.

Although not the turning point in the Scottish Wars of Independence it led on to the landmark victory at Bannockburn in 1314 that in turn gave Scotland freedom to rule itself following the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. That was until 1707 when this basic right was again taken away. The rebirth of the Scottish nation is now well overdue.