Robert the Bruce Parent Guide

After the death of William Wallace in 1305, the fight for Scottish independence from England has fallen into disarray. Robert the Bruce (Angus Macfayden) hopes to reunite the nation after his coronation as King of Scots, but internal conflict with John Comyn (Jared Harris) threatens to derail him before he takes the throne. Following a series of catastrophic defeats, Robert disbands his army and wanders into the wilderness, disheartened, confused, and pursued by bounty hunters who would turn him in to the English. But when he stumbles across Morag (Anna Hutchinson) and her family, Robert is reintroduced to some of the people he has been fighting for all along, which bolsters his resolve to fight the English.

Historical films are a mixed bag. On one hand, is a movie like 12 Years a Slave, which is a largely faithful recreation of a well-documented autobiography. On the other hand, you have Braveheart, which is not only riddled with violence, profanity, and sexual content, but is largely ahistorical. You also wind up dealing with Mel Gibson’s on-again-off-again Scottish accent. So where does Robert the Bruce fit on that scale?

Well it is, mercifully, not Braveheart, although it is a semi-sequel, with Angus Macfayden reprising his role as Robert the Bruce from that film. But that’s a very low bar to clear, and Robert the Bruce certainly could have aimed higher. While the historical accuracy is, at least in things like set design and timeline, a touch better, the plot is also a lot less exciting. Focusing on the difficult winter of 1306-07, in which Robert’s whereabouts are largely unknown to historians, the filmmakers have opted to have him spend nearly the entire time sitting in a family cabin and moping while recovering from an arrow wound.

I appreciate that they’re aiming for a more humanized personal story, but it doesn’t work since none of the characters are terribly interesting to start with. The script flails about, hitting clichés and nonsense with equal frequency. Some scenes just seem to end without having justified their existence in the first place. This is all especially frustrating, considering that the film ends at the hugely significant Battle of Bannockburn, in which the Scots finally decisively removed the English armies from Scotland. There are so many more interesting episodes in Robert the Bruce’s life, and we’re stuck with two hours of historically vague moping. Terrific.

Despite its connection to the family-unsuitable Bravehart, the only content issues in Robert the Bruce relate to violence. All of the violence is about what you’d expect from a movie about war in the 14^th century - injuries (and deaths) stemming from swords, axes, arrows, and other assorted weaponry which push it into PG-13 territory. Surprisingly, there’s almost no profanity at all, and only vague references to sex. So while the movie is probably suitable for teens, it’s also unlikely to be of any interest or educational merit.