In The Earth: Film Review

In The Earth: Film Review

In the 21st Century Folk Horror Revival, several names keep coming to the fore, among those are the partnership of British film director Ben Wheatley and screenwriter Amy Jump. Together they have previously brought us the new wave of folk horror gems Kill List (2011) and A Field in England (2013) as well as the tangentially associated Sightseers (2012) – a darkly humourous film that is akin to…

View On WordPress

showandtelltime:

It’s Show & Tell Time!

What’s the last movie you watched and would you recommend it to others?

Open up and let the Devil in.

A Field in England, is a testament to Ben Wheatley’s skill in experimental filmmaking; in other words this is something you haven’t seen before. It is an awesome portrayal of macabre as well as subtle storytelling.

Amidst the English Civil War (during the 17th century) a servant that goes by Whitehead is charged with the task of finding an Irishman by the name of O'Neil. Whitehead flees from his handler’s grasp along with others who are fleeing from battle. Alone in a field, they are tricked into doing all the manual labor for an alchemist who had his assistant poison the deserters with psychedelic mushrooms, rendering them helpless to the normal conventions of reality, thus making them easier to control. And all this was done with the hopes of finding some kind of buried treasure.

A Field in England, in my opinion is a foray in the hypothetical, what if alchemy was real?

In this film I believe the director is saying it is and the concept is understood by a few, because after all it is taking place in the 17th Century.

There is a lot of showing and not telling during this movie, as the audience is forced to either sink or swim rather quickly. I understand that this film isn’t for everyone and it’s also not necessarily one’s own personal level of intelligence to understand or like this film, but rather your level of interest on the topic, or if you just enjoy great cinematography then you’ll like this film. Touching on the topic of the film; it’s about alchemy and the surge in interest it had during the 17th century under the guise that people thought they could transmute lead into gold.

Possible Spoilers (evidence from film to support my theory):

Whitehead is a homunculus (as he’s called one by his handler) and he was created by a man known simply as ‘master.’ I believe the Irishman he was charged to find, O'Neil, was an apprentice of Whitehead’s master who stole his notes on Alchemy and was able to teach himself the dark arts, this is why Whitehead was searching for him. O'Neil is later found buried, presumably in another realm as the deserters and Whitehead are forced to tug on a rope tied to a cryptic totem that later pulls O'Neil back onto their plane of existence.

O'neill also accuses Whitehead of knowing the location of the treasure as he’s taken into a tent and presumably tortured, but I think he was shown either a vision and or was 'activated’ by being force-fed these runes which allows his body to be a tool used to find things since he is homunculi; his body can technically be a vessel for other uses befitting of his creator. And afterwards when he’s done supposedly finding the location of the treasure he regurgitates the runes and is returned to a normal state of consciousness.

Wheatley does good in creating an atmosphere in which the most simple things are taught to be appreciated by the audience, for this film takes place during the English Civil War, and science is yet to fully blossom into what it is today, as the audience must grit their teeth through the poor hygiene that is gratuitously displayed throughout the film; which makes the film all that much more visceral to present day audience.

The tent scene was one of the most powerful scenes I have witnessed in cinema, as it is so simple, but the framing and the expression on the actor’s face as well as the music that plays over it gave it a haunting appeal as well as a dark and twisted fantastical sense of hilarity.

Overall I can say that this is a bit of sci-fi/thriller/period piece. Details that are captured is excellent even in an environment that is limited only by production budget but limitless in imagination as these 5 search the field for a treasure that only the supposed Whitehead himself knows of it’s whereabouts.

This is my first film I have seen from Wheatley and I like it a lot. It is a breath of fresh air, for his avant-garde style showed me something new, and daring for this is not a film that cannot ever possibly find commercial success but was still made in the name of art.

3.5/4

-DK