4 Quintessentially British Films

Mel Gibson may be as controversial as the Rangers-Celtic divide in Scottish football, but there's no denying he knows how to make an entertaining historical epic. Braveheart follows iconic Scottish folk hero William Wallace in his attempts and eventual failure to free Scotland from naughty English insurrection.

The Alba gu bràth spouting stunner may be historically inept (seriously, the portrayal of Isabella of France alone is worth a great deal of laughs to historians) but Braveheart still showed itself to be greatly entertaining and also cemented itself in national Scottish identity.

Plagued by various production problems - notably that Gibson didn't initially want to play Wallace considering his age - the film eventually pushed patriotically through its problems and found a release in 1995 to widespread acclaim. Not bad going for an ahistorical Scottish history movie directed by an Australian.

The skirmishes, the cinematography, the music, and the bitter yet poignant end of Wallace have captivated so many, to the point that the film earned itself several Academy Awards in 1995. It manages to encapsulate a fascinating region in Scottish history and it's no wonder that interest in the topic increased post-Braveheart. It even has the unique position of potentially influencing the publicity that the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum held six years ago, even though the outcome of that vote wasn't what Wallace would have intended.

It has since been met with several complaints of heightening xenophobia within modern Scots towards the English, which leaves a sour taste, but it can't be denied the impact that film had on Scottish culture was tremendous, and remains so.