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Scotland independence vote: The country’s rich film legacy

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Scotland’s independence referendum on Thursday carries plenty of significance for the country and the world beyond. But regardless of your leanings on the IndyRef, Scotland has pretty much already won on the cinema stage, where a country of just 5 million — one-tenth the size of England, for all you Unionists — has turned out a remarkable number of films and filmmakers.

Below, a list of some of the notable movies to come out of, and talk about, Scotland in the last few decades. The “Bravehearts,” “Trainspottings” but also the local heroes, and well, the “Local Hero.” The list, like a Highland summer evening, could go on and on. So we capped it at 11. If you need a break from all the politics talk, just scroll through the list — or better, watch a couple of the films. It’s a far better alternative to listening to all those scunners.

“Rob Roy” (1995). Before Liam Neeson was a grizzled, gun-toting action star, he was Rob Roy MacGregor, the 18th century Scottish folk hero and outlaw. Every hero needs a villain, of course, and MacGregor’s arrives fresh from London in the form of ruthless aristocrat Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth). Whereas MacGregor is earthy, honorable and macho, his nemesis is effete and conniving. Their clash of cultures even extends to a climactic duel in which Cunningham wields a rapier and MacGregor swings a heavy broadsword. Guess who wins?

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“Local Hero” (1983) and “Brave” (2012). What does a story about a corporate shark in a fictional coastal town have to do with a Pixar princess? Well, they’re both set in rural Scotland, and make ample use of the landscape, in live or CG shots. But more important, both films — Bill Forsyth’s charmer about the increasing self-doubt of an American oil executive as he arrives in the town of Ferness to impose his company’s will, and Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman’s global hit about Merida as she resists her kingdom’s pressure to be married — are about questioning long-standing tradition and embracing individual autonomy. Kind of seems like an appropriate sentiment today.

“Highlander” (1986). Connor McLeod, you’ve come to the right place — if the right place is the modern day, or the 16th century, or anywhere else the sword-fighting figure played by Christopher Lambert needs to be. A modest entry in the action genre when it came out, the film, co-starring Sean Connery, chugged along on home video and other platforms, eventually blossoming into a cult hit. Sure, there have been many stories since of dueling immortals and other gladiatorial battles set against impossibly beautiful mountainscapes. But really, how many of them star a James Bond, were directed by a guy who made all these Elton John and Falco videos and feature songs by Queen? There can be only one, indeed.

“Incident at Loch Ness” (2004). Werner Herzog takes on one of Scotland’s greatest totems — sort of — in this hall-of-mirrors mockumentary that purportedly follows the intrepid German filmmaker as he investigates the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Although Herzog is hamstrung by an underhanded producer (Zak Penn) and a bumbling crew (including a bikini-clad sonar operator and a kooky cryptozoologist), he learns that the mythical monster may in fact be more than a product of “our collective dreams and collective nightmares.”

“Braveheart” (1995). This Oscar-winning war epic starring Mel Gibson as the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace would seem to be the perfect pop-culture piece for pro-independence Scots to rally around — except for the pesky fact that it’s wildly inaccurate, historically speaking. Contrary to the film’s depiction, Wallace wasn’t a poor villager (his father was a knight and minor landowner), didn’t have an affair with Queen Isabella (a child at the time) and didn’t wear a kilt (those wouldn’t be in fashion for another few centuries). Still, as depicted by Gibson, the guy sure could give a rousing speech.

“The Angels’ Share” (2013). The redemptive powers of Scotch are at the center of this Ken Loach-directed tale. “The Angel’s Share” tells the story of a Glaswegian lad with a checkered past and a nose for whiskey who’s trying to go straight for the sake of his girlfriend and newborn son. But the film, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, isn’t just a love letter to Scotland’s national drink — it’s also a topical exploration of the unemployment crisis faced by the U.K.’s youth in recent years.

“Sunshine on Leith” (2013) and “God Help the Girl” (2014). Speaking of music, and Scots often are, these two recent indie pics use modern tunes to capture the timeless wistfulness of Scottish rock and pop. The first, a cheerful jukeboxer crafted from the songs of the Proclaimers, delighted crowds with its interconnected stories of love and family when it played the Toronto Film Festival last year. The latter, just out in theaters, was a Sundance darling, showcasing Emily Browning as a woman who teams up with fellow music nerd (Olly Alexander) to form a band over a magical, lost summer, the pair roaming through a (rather circumscribed) portion of Glasgow. It’s written and directed by — who else — Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch.

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“MacBeth” (1971). Shakespeare’s Scottish play has been adapted for the screen numerous times, by directors including Orson Wells, Akira Kurosawa and, in this grim, bloody case, Roman Polanski. In Polanski’s hands, the tragic tale of an ambitious, newly crowned king of Scotland and his calculating wife is rendered with such dark ferocity that it comes as something of a relief when rival Macduff arrives with an army of English forces to stop him. That doesn’t keep Polanski from adding his own forbidding ending, though. [Bonus pic, while we’re on the subject: 2001’s “Scotland, Pa,” the Maura Tierney-Christopher Walken updating of the Bard’s classic that moves things from Dunsinane Castle to Duncan’s Cafe in Pennsylvania circa the mid-70’s.]

Trainspotting” (1996). Rent Boy, Spud, Sick Boy, Tommy and Franco. It doesn’t get more Scottish than this, even if the people in it may not want it to be that Scottish. Anchored by Rent Boy’s self-loathing speech (“we’re colonized by wankers … we can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by”), the film offered a view that was at once gritty and heightened, colorful and socially persuasive. Danny Boyle’s classic makes all the other Scottish movies seem, well, like the lowest of the low.

Follow @ZeitchikLAT and @ogettell for movie news

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