Chasing The Deer was also released as Culloden 1745 - the last major battle fought between the rival Houses of Hanover and Stuart, the last British Civil War, and the last battle to be fought on Scottish soil.
I'll say that Chasing The Deer certainly has faults - and it suffers from the same drawbacks that all labours of love have - but it compares favourable to absurd, overblown Hollywood retellings like Goldwyn - Korda - Niven's 'Bonny Prince Charlie'...or Mel Gibson's Braveheart.
The production values and direction are surprisingly high - some scenery is spectacularly well photographed - but the script is overburdened with characters and stodgy dialogue. Moreover, Brian Blessed deserves praise for a good performance as the conflicted Hanoverian loyalist Major Elliott. Scots rocker Fish is in there too but good luck spotting him with all the dirt and camouflage.
Still, it a worthy attempt to tell a complex story with a bit more heart than the shortbread tin imagery. And, more importantly, I think, like The Bruce, it stimulates interest and debate on otherwise neglected areas of Scottish history.
There were English Jacobites. Some Scots declared their loyalties (for various reasons - not always noble ones) while others remained neutral. The '45 split clans, cities, communities and families. As for the cliche of opposites on the battlefield - that's what happens in civil war, and that's what happened at Culloden. And it didn't stop Ken Loach capitalising on the same clichés did it?
