When Scots filmmaker Bill Douglas died in 1991 he left a tiny body of work: a few student shorts, his ‘working-class epic’ about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Comrades and, his masterpiece, Trilogy.

Three linked films – My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home – running a mere 165 minutes all told, they follow the harsh, emotionally starved upbringing of a young Scots lad who, though called Jamie in fiction, unmistakably stands for Douglas himself.

Shot for the most part in Newcraighall, the grim mining village outside Edinburgh where Douglas grew up (and on a paltry budget less than £50,000 for all three films), Trilogy offers a true masterclass in more-with-less. Dialogue is spare and elliptical and little is explained; it’s left to us – as it is to Jamie – to work out the relationships between the members of his rancorous, dysfunctional family. But the urgency of the telling and the stark poetry of Douglas’ images (comparisons with Bresson often come to mind) create an experience of haunting intensity rare in British cinema.

As Jamie, Stephen Archibald conveys infinite emotional damage in his guarded stare. Not till midway through My Way Home, when the scene switches to Egypt – where Jamie, doing National Service, meets a young Englishman who offers him trust and friendship – do we see the clouds start to lift.

DVD Extras:

Documentary
Student short
Interview
Booklet

The second disc boasts an hour-long doc on Douglas, a snippet of interview with him and the short Come Dancing, his impressive graduation piece from the London Film School – plus a comprehensive 30-page booklet.