Bill Douglas (and St Andrew)
I feel rather ashamed that St Andrew's Day has come and gone (it was the 30th of November) and I failed to celebrate it (in blog form at least) by coming up with anything related to Scottish films. I'd like to say however that for once it wasn't my laziness - my internet connection has been down for the last several days. Honest.
With that in mind, I thought at the very least I could use this opportunity to point out that just recently (well, several months ago) the British Film Institute released on DVD the greatest Scottish film(s) ever made, in the form of THE BILL DOUGLAS TRILOGY.
Sadly these three represent three quarters of Douglas's entire feature-length film output, so we can only wonder at what might have been under different circumstances. That said however, the films that we do have are marvellous.
The three autobiographical films (of which the first, MY CHILDHOOD, is probably the best) tell of a young boy growing up after World War II in a poverty-ridden Scottish mining village (Newcraighall, just outside Edinburgh, if you're interested) as he gradually approaches adulthood.
The films are not just memorable for their starkly honest portrait of Scottish post-war poverty (after all, Scottish cinema specialises in tales of poverty and misery) but for being the most beautifully made Scottish films too. Being shot on grainy old black and white 16mm helps the films no end - MY CHILDHOOD in particular, despite being made in the 70s, truly feels like the 1940s) - but Douglas somehow still makes the barren wasteland of post-war Scotland look magical. Whether it's the rundown housing or the wide-open fields nearby, every shot is visual perfection.
The other films in the trilogy (MY AIN FOLK and MY WAY HOME) don't have quite the same gritty look about them but nevertheless encompass everything that was great about the first two films. If there's any flaw at all, it's that MY WAY HOME perhaps loses something by following the young lad's exploits abroad, which don't seem to have the same punch as the tales of his depressing Edinburgh childhood.
I should also single out one other aspect of the films that really boost the authenticity too, and this concerns the casting. While the actors are all terrific, what really stands out is the way the speak. I'm not just talking about what they say and how they say it (although that is true to life too) but also the accents.
The accents might seem like a small detail to focus on but I can't emphasise enough just how rare something like this is. Under normal circumstances Scottish films like this would be made up of a combination of people with BBC Scottish accents, people trying to sound like they're really working class Scots, and people who have west-coast accents. None of that here - every accent in the film is total authentic, unmistakably the voices you would expect to hear in a working class town in the east of Scotland.
Describing the accents perhaps could be a but misleading here mind you, as it gives the impression that there's a lot of talking. There's not - one of the most striking things about these films, particularly MY CHILDHOOD, is how little dialogue there is. That only adds to the poetic, art-house style of the films and really makes them stand out further against the pack.
These films are the most beautiful, lyrical films in the history of Scottish film (only Lynne Ramsay and Richard Jobson have really tried anything approaching this) and the BFI's DVD release is a must-own item, whether you're Scottish or not.
With that in mind, I thought at the very least I could use this opportunity to point out that just recently (well, several months ago) the British Film Institute released on DVD the greatest Scottish film(s) ever made, in the form of THE BILL DOUGLAS TRILOGY.
Sadly these three represent three quarters of Douglas's entire feature-length film output, so we can only wonder at what might have been under different circumstances. That said however, the films that we do have are marvellous.
The three autobiographical films (of which the first, MY CHILDHOOD, is probably the best) tell of a young boy growing up after World War II in a poverty-ridden Scottish mining village (Newcraighall, just outside Edinburgh, if you're interested) as he gradually approaches adulthood.
The films are not just memorable for their starkly honest portrait of Scottish post-war poverty (after all, Scottish cinema specialises in tales of poverty and misery) but for being the most beautifully made Scottish films too. Being shot on grainy old black and white 16mm helps the films no end - MY CHILDHOOD in particular, despite being made in the 70s, truly feels like the 1940s) - but Douglas somehow still makes the barren wasteland of post-war Scotland look magical. Whether it's the rundown housing or the wide-open fields nearby, every shot is visual perfection.
The other films in the trilogy (MY AIN FOLK and MY WAY HOME) don't have quite the same gritty look about them but nevertheless encompass everything that was great about the first two films. If there's any flaw at all, it's that MY WAY HOME perhaps loses something by following the young lad's exploits abroad, which don't seem to have the same punch as the tales of his depressing Edinburgh childhood.
I should also single out one other aspect of the films that really boost the authenticity too, and this concerns the casting. While the actors are all terrific, what really stands out is the way the speak. I'm not just talking about what they say and how they say it (although that is true to life too) but also the accents.
The accents might seem like a small detail to focus on but I can't emphasise enough just how rare something like this is. Under normal circumstances Scottish films like this would be made up of a combination of people with BBC Scottish accents, people trying to sound like they're really working class Scots, and people who have west-coast accents. None of that here - every accent in the film is total authentic, unmistakably the voices you would expect to hear in a working class town in the east of Scotland.
Describing the accents perhaps could be a but misleading here mind you, as it gives the impression that there's a lot of talking. There's not - one of the most striking things about these films, particularly MY CHILDHOOD, is how little dialogue there is. That only adds to the poetic, art-house style of the films and really makes them stand out further against the pack.
These films are the most beautiful, lyrical films in the history of Scottish film (only Lynne Ramsay and Richard Jobson have really tried anything approaching this) and the BFI's DVD release is a must-own item, whether you're Scottish or not.
Labels: Bill Douglas, scottish film
posted by Alan at 7:51 pm
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