Living in England, the last few
weeks have been interesting; with the news plastered with coverage of Scotland
and the Referendum and people talking about little else, I realised two things:
1, I miss Glasgow more than I would my right lung right now and 2, no one in
England knows anything about Scottish cinema.
So in honour of Scotland choosing
to stay in the Union for another ten years at least, I think it’s high time to talk
about the most Scottish film ever made.
And no, it’s not bloody Braveheart. The Battle of Stirling
Bridge could have been good, except it wasn’t on a Bridge, and so was the Battle
in a Field Somewhere Less Significant, which doesn’t really carry the same
weight. I must have been the only person to watch Braveheart wondering when the English would just get on with it and
kill Wallace, if only it meant the film would end at some point soon.
On top of this, it’s an American
film directed by an Australian shot in Ireland. How Scottish.
 | |||
| That and Scots stopped wearing wode when the Romans left, which I'm sure they just put in to irritate history nerds at this point |
No, not Braveheart. Or Brave, Trainspotting,
Local Hero or Whisky Galore (although that film is glorious). Nah, it’s a Gaelic
language film with minimal English dialogue, partly funded by Skye College and
it’s utterly wonderful.
Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle tells the story of young Angus,
orphaned when his parents fall from the Skye mountains, and his relationship
with his Grandfather, a man who mourns both his son and his dying culture.
Angus’s life is filled with stories and Gaelic culture, but it seems bleak and
isolated – it’s telling how exotic and distant places like Glasgow seem in Seachd, as if the idea of speaking
anything other than Gaelic ill suits such a wild and ancient land.
Skye looks gorgeous throughout,
Ian Dodd’s cinematography perfectly capturing the vastness of landscape whilst
picking up on the small human imprints on this natural world. A car here, a cottage
there and Agnus’s problems seem simultaneously enormous and insignificant. It’s as much a film about Gaelic as it is
Agnus, his Granddad using old Gaelic stories as metaphors, instructions and
sometimes just to cheer up his sullen and lonely grandson.
And what stories they are. With
this kind of film, it can be difficult to get across the importance of the
message without it consuming the entire narrative, casting the entire thing into
the dark world of important, but not very entertaining. Seachd balances the more serious tales of oppression, death and murder with a gentle sense of humour, particularly
with the tale of the Spaniard and the McDonald, which is fun, funny and ends
with an amazing pun which still makes me smile.
Where Braveheart is cynical and manipulative, Seachd is sincere and hopeful. It’s a film about local history and
legend interwoven with a heartbreakingly real family drama and I honestly can’t
recommend it enough. It’s lovingly crafted, warm hearted and small enough to
feel personal to everyone who watches it whilst being undoubtedly and truly
Scottish.
