The IWW film night in January will be Culloden, a pioneering 1964 drama/documentary by Peter Watkins, who also made Punishment Park. Culloden is about the last battle on Scottish soil, when English forces crushed a Scottish uprising. The battle was followed by ethnic cleansing across the Highlands, where Scottish landowners collaborated with the invading army to clear Highlanders off the land, so that they could seize the commons and dispossess the indentured workers.
Rather than dealing with the ‘major players’ in the conflict, Watkins shows us the lives of the ordinary men and women on both sides, and how they were manipulated and used by the powerful for their own ends.
Stirchley Working Mens Club, 2 Hazelwell Lane, Stirchley, B30 2PP