Calcutta Cup

Film 4 tonight showing Braveheart.

Question to my Celtic cousins....

Can you think of a better film to show before a Calcutta Cup weekend ...

A story in which an Aussie in Scottish colours leads the Scots in a brave but ultimately futile attempt against the wicked English in the South of Scotland then when things fall apart he is betrayed by some high ranking Scottish leaders who are of English heritage and hung up until (his career is) dead. Sounds familiar...

I feel for my Scottish and Welsh Brothers. It's hard to get rid of the English when you're on the same fecken Island.

Hard enough even next door. Wasn't easy I assure you.

ChequeredJersey wrote:A story in which an Aussie in Scottish colours leads the Scots in a brave but ultimately futile attempt against the wicked English in the South of Scotland then when things fall apart he is betrayed by some high ranking Scottish leaders who are of English heritage and hung up until (his career is) dead. Sounds familiar...

Absolutely brilliant...

This week, in order to avoid the insane jingoistic rant that is Braveheart, I have watched Cool Runnings, Coach Carter, Miracle, Remember the Titans and Caddyshack.

Having watched these documentaries, I can only conclude that Scotland are statistically certain to win on Saturday.

I almost feel sorry for England, having the full weight of the Disney dream machine arrayed against them...

ChequeredJersey wrote:A story in which an Aussie in Scottish colours leads the Scots in a brave but ultimately futile attempt against the wicked English in the South of Scotland then when things fall apart he is betrayed by some high ranking Scottish leaders who are of English heritage and hung up until (his career is) dead. Sounds familiar...

IanBru wrote:This week, in order to avoid the insane jingoistic rant that is Braveheart, I have watched Cool Runnings, Coach Carter, Miracle, Remember the Titans and Caddyshack.

Having watched these documentaries, I can only conclude that Scotland are statistically certain to win on Saturday.

I almost feel sorry for England, having the full weight of the Disney dream machine arrayed against them...

Caddshack is clearly one of the finest pieces of cinematic art ever made. Varmints.

This week in the run up to The Calcutta Cup i have watched:

Argo (actually historically accurate, just sayin')
Utopia
The Following

Anything to pass the time tbh.

As for Braveheart, even as an Englishman i'll admit it was a ripping yarn, but horribly inaccurate. Neil Oliver's BBC Alba History of Scotland was equally as entertaining and incredibly insightful.

Braveheart is absolute tripe.

It's entertaining tripe, however it is about as historicaly accurate as 10'000 years BC.

My favourite exchange regarding the film was when Mel Gibson was questioned by a Scottish historian regarding one of the Key Battles of the Scottish wars of independence, "The Battle of Stirling Bridge"

The Historian : "Why are you filming the Battle of Stirling Bridge without a bridge?"

Gibson : "The Bridge kind of got in the way."

The Historian : "Yeah that's the excuse the English commander used too."

Basicly saying that if the army of Medieval Scotland met the army of Medieval England in open warfare they would have been destroyed, a bit like what happened at Falkirk.

The Battle Scotland won during the wars of independence were won through guile, superior tactics and using the terrain of Scotland itself to our advantage.

Looking at what tactics to employ this weekend... not much has changed.

Sadly there aren't any bridges at Twickenham and with that new pitch there is unlikely to be any water soaked bogs either

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Braveheart is absolute tripe.

It's entertaining tripe, however it is about as historicaly accurate as 10'000 years BC.

My favourite exchange regarding the film was when Mel Gibson was questioned by a Scottish historian regarding one of the Key Battles of the Scottish wars of independence, "The Battle of Stirling Bridge"

The Historian : "Why are you filming the Battle of Stirling Bridge without a bridge?"

Gibson : "The Bridge kind of got in the way."

The Historian : "Yeah that's the excuse the English commander used too."

Basicly saying that if the army of Medieval Scotland met the army of Medieval England in open warfare they would have been destroyed, a bit like what happened at Falkirk.

The Battle Scotland won during the wars of independence were won through guile, superior tactics and using the terrain of Scotland itself to our advantage.

Looking at what tactics to employ this weekend... not much has changed.

Sadly there aren't any bridges at Twickenham and with that new pitch there is unlikely to be any water soaked bogs either

There is but it crosses the A316 and a bit rickety. Road tax payers will also be given reason to complain as opposed to a bunch of Rugby fans lemming it across the road.

Mel Gibson and historically inaccurate films - who'd have thunk it?

Mel Gibson in films where the English are the bad guys.....

Being a former colonial power we have to take the tag of bad guys. Probably because we were (and not just England).

Read a lot of stuff about the rise of the Brittish Empire. We went rampaing through land that didn't belong to us with out superior technology claiming everything as ours in one of the world's most shocking displays of greed.

Not exactly our finest hour.

True though most of the countries that see us as bad guys from that era were either doing the same thing but less well, wished they could do the same but couldn't or were formed and benefited from said colonialism, making a lot of them massive hypocrites

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Being a former colonial power we have to take the tag of bad guys. Probably because we were (and not just England).

Read a lot of stuff about the rise of the Brittish Empire. We went rampaing through land that didn't belong to us with out superior technology claiming everything as ours in one of the world's most shocking displays of greed.

Not exactly our finest hour.

All true, but thats also by modern standards. Everyone was at it at the time though, and at least we do have reasonable relationships with most of the former colonies which is more than can be said for most of the other european powers

ChequeredJersey wrote:A story in which an Aussie in Scottish colours leads the Scots in a brave but ultimately futile attempt against the wicked English in the South of Scotland then when things fall apart he is betrayed by some high ranking Scottish leaders who are of English heritage and hung up until (his career is) dead. Sounds familiar...

That's great