A NEW poll to discover Scotland’s favourite Scottish film has highlighted a split between Unionists and independence supporters.
The Panelbase poll showed the overall favourite was Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s historically questionable but multi-Oscar-winning biopic of William Wallace.
It attracted a runaway 20 per cent of votes in the survey of 1,002 Scots. Backers of the stirring drama about the fight for freedom included 27 per cent of those who voted Yes in the independence referendum in 2014, but just 13 per cent of No voters.
It was also popular among young people, with 26 per cent of those aged 16 to 34 voting it to the top.
Braveheart’s fans were also more likely to be women, working-class and SNP or Labour voters.
The second most popular film was Trainspotting, the film of Irvine Welsh’s novel about the exploits of a group of young heroin addicts in Edinburgh, some way behind Braveheart on 16 per cent. It was also popular with 16 to 34-year-olds, with 24 per cent of them voting for it. It attracted 16 per cent of the Yes vote and 15 per cent of the No vote.
The poll was commissioned by pro-independence website Wings Over Scotland, which commented: “We perhaps shouldn’t be all that shocked that Unionists prefer to see Scotland depicted as a country of squalid, backstabbing, violent and essentially useless heroin addicts than as a proud nation struggling for its freedom from a brutal oppressive invader.
“But at least now we can put some solid numbers to it.”
However, a much clearer split could be seen over Mrs Brown, which is about the relationship between Queen Victoria (played by Judi Dench) and her Highland gillie John Brown (Billy Connolly).
Only two per cent of Yes voters favoured it, but seven per cent of No voters thought it the best Scottish film.
The poll was set up after the website asked Twitter users to name their favourite Scottish films, without defining any criteria. The 20 most popular answers were put to those surveyed by Panelbase.
Braveheart was made by American-Australian Mel Gibson’s US production company, and while the crew spent six weeks shooting on location in Scotland, the major battle scenes were shot in Ireland.
Trainspotting was made by Channel Four films and directed by Mancunian Danny Boyle but was shot largely in Scotland.
As well as Mrs Brown, a number of other films in the poll were hovering around the four or five per cent mark, including Gregory’s Girl and Sunshine on Leith.
Only third-placed Whisky Galore, the 1949 Hebridean romp based on the looting of the whisky ship the SS Politician during the Second World War, managed to stand out from the also-rans, with nine per cent of the vote.
Fourteen per cent of Tories surveyed chose the black-and-white film, harking back to more innocent times, their top Scots movie.
The publication of the poll results prompted a raft of comments on the Wings site, with Bob Mack saying: “Unionists prefer anything that depicts Scotland as servile, dependant and quaintly dim.”
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