Average film, great comments

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2003)

It's all very well saying that a movie is not a history lesson in order to explain away it's inaccuracies - but sadly these days too many people blindly believe what movies tell them.
The film itself I consider nothing more than average, but the comments on here are highly entertaining. Particularly ones like that of "fmr007". He/she needs to learn that:-
1. The "auld alliance" between France and Scotland was made specifically to give Scotland the chance to take territory from England while the English were busy fighting the French - eg in the case of the Battle of Neville's Cross.
2. Saying that the English were "cowards" for using longbows from a distance is a nonsense. The longbow was a valid weapon that won England many victories - it took a lifetime to train to use it, if other countries didn't see it's value and failed to put the effort in to training longbowmen, that's their lookout. Probably the most effective weapon until the invention of the machine gun.
3. Charles II was, of course, a Scottish king, and king of both Scotland and England. I'm not sure why "fmr007" thinks that he wanted the Scots to fight against Oliver Cromwell in 1650, Cromwell having died a year earlier.
4. The Jacobite rebellion had no validity. James II was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 due to his unconstitutional pro-Catholic leanings and replaced with his daughter. The Stuart line continued until 1714 when Anne died childless and was replaced with George I. However some (not all) Scots felt the need to invade England 30 years later to try and put the pretender on the throne. After having marched south as far as Derby they can only blame themselves that the English wanted payback after beating them.
5. The Scots desperately needed the Act of Union in 1707. They had tried to control ALL world trade without doing their homework and had effectively bankrupted themselves. Check out Simon Schama's excellent "History of Britain" to learn some basic history.
As I said at the start, the film's very ordinary, Mel should stick to non-thinking roles.