Hurrah for Brave, the little movie that could! And did! All Scotland salutes her Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Another triumph for the plucky underdogs at Disney-Pixar.
That, at any rate, is the Scottish government’s view. This “Scottish film” (according to the SNP’s official twitter feed) is another example of Caledonian excellence. Only pedants and churls – of which the country possesses no shortage – can fail to be stirred by the movie’s victory in a minor Oscar category.
Well, of course, there’s nothing wrong with liking Brave – a perfectly decent movie – and nothing wrong with preferring it to animated movies you most probably have not seen. But, really, there’s something desperate, something dispiriting, about pretending that its success owes anything significant to its setting. If Brave is a “Scottish film” then the latest version of Les Miserables is a triumph of French cinema. Somehow, however, I doubt Francois Holland felt the need to associate himself with that sprawling mess.
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