Stone of Destiny

Dir Charles Martin Smith w/ Charlie Cox, Kate Mara. 96 min.

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BY Kieran Grant   September 02, 2008 21:09

Editorial Rating:

The hollowest tones of Celtic pride get drummed up in TIFF’s Closing Gala pick, a rote bit of pseudo-uplift about a group of Edinburgh students who endeavour to steal the Stone of Scone — a 300-pound, 700-year-old national totem — back from Westminster Abbey and reclaim it for Scotland. Directed by the highly respectable actor Smith and based on an actual scheme nearly pulled off in 1950, it’s a grand, woolly, ale-cured, twinkly-eyed, chest-heaving pose about facing up to English oppression. It’s also presumptuous and says nothing about why the Scots felt shat on by their English overlords. The stories of its central characters are slightly more engaging — these are canny, affable lads and lasses, after all — even if the Stone’s weight seems to fluctuate wildly as they try to shove it in the boot of their car. The postcard scenery can’t mask the scent of bullshite in the heather. 

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