A few months ago, I came across a trailer for a movie via my Instagram feed. The trailer was for a movie titled The Uprising, and because Andrew Garfield is the lead and I love him, I watched it and immediately told my mom about it because I knew she would be interested in seeing it in theatres.
The film is about a young farmer who calls himself Ploughman, much like his craft, who sort of unintentionally sparks an England-wide rebellion against the Royal Family. These events did, in fact, happen historically – in the 1300s in England, over half of the population had succumbed to the Black Plague. The common folk were being drastically mistreated by King Richard II, who took the throne at the ripe age of ten, and allowed his council to poison his mind and perpetually treat his people worse than animals (https://www.britannica.com/event/Peasants-Revolt).
The Royal Family is quickly running out of money, so the King and his council decide to increase taxes on the common folk. Seeing as they already have nothing, Ploughman snaps and proceeds to start killing some of the King’s soldiers. Word gets out across England of this rebellion, and thousands of peasants come together to challenge the King and his rule and plead their case to him.
I won’t ruin the film for anyone who wishes to see it, and allow me to say that Garfield as Ploughman is phenomenal. My mom and I both felt as though the film was sort of missing something; the imagery was very bleak, the dialogue was minimal and difficult to understand when it did occur, and the film really wasn’t all that inspiring. I’m not entirely certain how to pinpoint what is missing from this movie, but my mom felt the same way.
I would give it seven stars out of ten.
Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash
