As much as I complain about Scottish filmmakers' fixation with the negative aspects of our culture, it's a bit more difficult when you're confronted with something of the quality of A SENSE OF FREEDOM, the definitive Scottish gangster movie.
It's the true-life story of one-time money-lender and latter day reformed character Jimmy Boyle and was the last film in the season dedicated to Peter McDougall and John Mackenzie, having been adapted from Boyle's book by McDougall.
The film was made in the late 1970s and is built around a powerhouse central performance by David Hayman (in attendance) although it also proves to be a who's who of Scottish acting talent with even the very minor roles going to familiar faces (witness the young Alex Norton as a victim of Boyle early in the film).
Produced by STV, the film was blown up to 35mm and given a theatrical release, such is the quality on show. The down side however is that when this was done, it was also re-dubbed so that the Glasgow accents were a little softer and easier understood by... well, by whoever it is that apparently can't understand the Glasgow dialect. It's an astoundingly ill-judged and downright offensive treatment of a terrific film and sadly this is the version released on DVD. (McDougall himself only rejoined the guests after the screening finished, such is his revulsion at the film's treatment - and understandably so.)
For this screening, EIFF managed a 35mm print but only of the bastardised version, the original apparently being in no fit state to be shown. It's testament to the power of the film that even with this insultingly shoddy hatchet job the film is still a belter.
I urge anyone who hasn't seen this film to at least check it out on DVD, but we can only pray that one day we will once again see the film as it was intended.
It's the true-life story of one-time money-lender and latter day reformed character Jimmy Boyle and was the last film in the season dedicated to Peter McDougall and John Mackenzie, having been adapted from Boyle's book by McDougall.
The film was made in the late 1970s and is built around a powerhouse central performance by David Hayman (in attendance) although it also proves to be a who's who of Scottish acting talent with even the very minor roles going to familiar faces (witness the young Alex Norton as a victim of Boyle early in the film).
Produced by STV, the film was blown up to 35mm and given a theatrical release, such is the quality on show. The down side however is that when this was done, it was also re-dubbed so that the Glasgow accents were a little softer and easier understood by... well, by whoever it is that apparently can't understand the Glasgow dialect. It's an astoundingly ill-judged and downright offensive treatment of a terrific film and sadly this is the version released on DVD. (McDougall himself only rejoined the guests after the screening finished, such is his revulsion at the film's treatment - and understandably so.)
For this screening, EIFF managed a 35mm print but only of the bastardised version, the original apparently being in no fit state to be shown. It's testament to the power of the film that even with this insultingly shoddy hatchet job the film is still a belter.
I urge anyone who hasn't seen this film to at least check it out on DVD, but we can only pray that one day we will once again see the film as it was intended.
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