Movie review: 'The Uprising' a medieval revolt that speaks to our modern moment

"The Uprising" is technically about the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, but that’s not really what it’s about. It’s about right now.

Writer-director Paul Greengrass' latest film introduces us to our protagonist, a pathetic Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) living a grief-filled and wretched existence after a plague wipes out half the population. A small group of men hoard wealth and resources, while the peasant class is heavily taxed, laws brutally enforced. As Greengrass lays out the bare facts of this situation with a cinematic style that’s more news documentary than stuffy period piece, the parallels to our own current situation are laid bare.

The film is told in a fairly simple fashion, with an emphasis on visual storytelling and visceral sensation and immediacy. All we need to know is that the council advising 14-year-old King Richard II (Woody Norman) conspires while the young king prays and his mother (Katherine Waterston) glowers. Outside, a bloodthirsty mob armed with farm tools marches on London, led in part by the Ploughman, who started his own local uprising when he fought back against the taxman. He joins forces with Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), a former soldier, and John Ball (Jamie Bell), a priest deemed heretic, as the crowd demands an audience with the king.

As the chaos unfolds, Greengrass doesn’t pontificate on the morality of these events, and in fact, maintains a rather neutral stance on it for most of the film, withholding judgment.

The Ploughman wants to play by the rules, but it’s how the revolt plays out that radicalizes him. While Greengrass shows us the uprising in all its messy confusion as the logical outcome of oppression, by following our Ploughman protagonist as he witnesses treachery and deceit, Greengrass ultimately arrives at the belief, as our Ploughman does, that revolution is necessary, even in failure, and that freedom is worth more than anything.

The opening and closing of "The Uprising" are bracing and stark in their storytelling — the middle is a bit mushy and confusing. But it’s the performances that carry us through. Garfield, sensitive and earthy, is our bellwether as the events descend into bloody carnage dictated by muddled agendas. He's surrounded by actors who deliver bigger performances, like Jarvis as the brutish but shrewd Tyler, and Bell as the fervent Ball. Young Norman is riveting as the increasingly dastardly king.

The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 is a fascinating moment, because it’s a time when the notion of democracy wasn’t even a twinkle in a feudal servant’s eye. The murkiness of it all clarifies by the end of the film, not just in terms of its heroes, villains and message, but Greengrass also situates this story within a recognizable cinematic and storytelling history. There’s a thrill as it all comes together. Greengrass might be making a big swing (of the scythe), but his blade finds its target nevertheless.