The Uprising in my opinion is a perfect streaming movie, is exactly the kind of movie that does great at home mainly because the 1381 Peasants' Rebellion is interesting enough to keep me watching even when the movie doesnt give me enough context. The 1381 Peasants' Rebellion is interesting enough that I wanted to understand what was going on but The Uprising doesnt give much details on it, they keep talking about reasons why the England mob decided to take the streets after a matter that had nothing to do with them but it was the right time, especially once the movie gets into the taxes, the anger toward the people around the king, and the strange loyalty the peasants still have toward the king himself. They are angry enough to rise up, destroy records, attack people in power, and march toward London, but they still believe King Richard II can fix things if they can just reach him and explain what his advisers are doing. I think that is one of the best ideas in the movie because it makes the rebellion less simple than peasants good, rulers bad. Director Paul Greengrass from the Bourne movies, often gives me the event without enough help understanding the people inside it. There are names, places, religious figures, soldiers, advisers and groups all moving in different directions, and I kept wanting a little more context before the movie pushed forward again but it never reach that inflexion point. Although the movie does a good job and let me follow the basic point, people are being crushed by taxes and abuse, they have had enough, and one act of resistance helps convince others that resistance is possible, but why certain people suddenly mattered or why everything happen so fast, I think it mostly feels like this because there was not much context before and during the rebellion other than the King saw it comming on his dreams.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36983905/
- Platform: PRIME VIDEO
Andrew Garfield's Ploughman Is Too Passive
Good old neighbor, Andrew Garfield's Ploughman should be the person who makes all of that easier to follow, but he is almost too quiet for the job the movie gives him, I was expecting to be wilding but he remains so damn calmn all the time even once the went to the woods, I though he would act more like damn Batman or something. Now lets separate the actor from the character since he can really do as far as the script allows him, I do not have a problem with Garfield here, he sells the exhaustion and anger of a man who has been pushed too far and the early moment where he finally attacks one of the soldiers of the king gives the rebellion a personal touch. After that, other people hear what he did and treat him like a symbol but then how he is not the one leading the way??, he never becomes a leader who can hold the movie together so the rebellion grows around him instead of being driven by him, thats the problem I got with the character. He is often a calmn guy who I honestly never though he trust the King as the rest did, standing near people who are making plans, giving speeches or deciding where everyone goes next. I can understand why the direction of the movie might want that, since Ploughman is a normal worker pulled into something much bigger than himself and keeping him uncertain fits a movie about people who do not have full control over what they started but then the movie ends with him leading?!, maybe that can be interpreted as character growth but probably was just too late with little context, mainly because when the character we spend the most time with barely explains what he thinks, I end up watching the rebellion from the outside with him. I often felt like I knew the movement better than we get to know Ploughman, and that is a strange problem to have with Andrew Garfield in the center of the movie. Ofter its the supporting characters who give the movie more shape because they are more direct about what the peasants want and what should happen next and properly give orders and attach others, do something.
The Handheld Camera Works Better During the Riots
Even normal conversations in The Uprising feel restless because the handheld camera rarely stays still. The style works much better during the riots and fight scenes, where the constant movement actually fits the action. There are also quick zooms that call attention to the camera instead of the person speaking and some of the bigger crowd scenes are harder to read because the image is already busy before the camera starts moving, its like the space is reduce really fast to the point the scene feels saturated. That is what makes the distance worse, Greengrass keeps moving the camera when I already need help understanding where everyone is and what matters. I do think the scale is something the movie gets right, since watching people join the march and the rebellion grow into something much larger gives the rebellion a size that makes you imagine and feel for long this people has been walking and that there are hundreds if not thousands like when they get to the shore of the river just to see the King. That should have made the outdoor scenes feel more real to me, but there are other aspects that sometimes doesnt work on its favor like the smoke, they were burning everything in their way. Some wide shots look good and the medieval setup with the clothing and crowds can be convincing enough to make you feel how it probably was, but they use just too much fog and smoke with some scenes. There are shots where smoke seems to sit over crowds and London for no clear reason, and that matches the problem I had with the CGI look. This type of historical movie should make the streets, fields and crowds feel real, but sometimes it looked like a big digital cover with people walking through it, its the history interested that keept me hooked trying to figure out how was things during that time, but the way it looked kept pulling me out of it.
King Richard II Changes Too Quickly
If we think about it took them several days to get to London, and at the start of the movie Richard is a young ruler surrounded by advisers who guide him, flatter him and push decisions toward him while still protecting their own interests, and the peasants keep believing he is different from the people around him, he even fool me once when he was giving them all a pardon. They think getting in front of the king can solve the problem because he will finally understand what has been done in his name, what a foolish way to think but I guess that was the way back in the day, some didnt know better. For this it also feels like they want to rip off their heads, from all those advising the king, while still treating the king almost like the answer, which is strange but the movie gives me enough to understand why they believe it. Then Richard becomes much harder and more calculating, how he let his entire group of advisors get destroyed and it happens so quickly that I felt like I missed the part connecting those two versions of him. By the time the movie reaches the trap and massacre, he seems far more in control than the boy we were watching earlier. This is where the storytelling loses me the most, because his change later in the movie does not feel prepared although once it lands it does, he knew everything what was going on its just that he knew he couldnt get rid of all his advisers at once, but the rebellion gave him the chance, so he took it. The movie did not need to explain every thought in his head, it needed something between a frightened young king and someone capable of using the trust of the rebels against them. Without that, one of the biggest turns in the story feels less like a consequence of what came before and more like the movie deciding it needs Richard to become a different person, and with so many people and political decisions to keep track of already, a sudden change like this makes me wonder what information I am missing between the frightened young king and the calculating one.
The Robin Hood Identity Arrives Too Late
The Uprising gave me more to think about than a lot of cleaner movies do, so I still like it, the story was simple and straight to the point, yes its very related to Robin Hood. In fact director Greengrass said how it was called "The Hood" at first but its more like how a figure like Robin Hood can grew out of a rebellion situation, and it also makes the audience work too hard for that interest because everyone was expecting either for Ploughman to put on the cape or say "Im Robin Hood" although that never happens. Most of the movie is about peasants, taxes, religious voices, class anger, loyalty to the king and a rebellion that grows beyond the control of the man we are closest to during the entire movie, and then its how the movie ends that pushes Ploughman toward the green hood, the forest and the familiar Robin Hood image, yes the movie piggy bag the name. It feels like the movie is finally giving Ploughman a stronger identity after spending most of the running time keeping him strangely passive and thats a shame because as I said, I really though he was going to be wilding specially after he fought the guards at the begining of the movie. I would have preferred that confidence and clarity much earlier, even if the movie still wanted him uncertain about where the rebellion was going or not even leading the rebellion. The same goes for the history, I did not need every name explained or every political detail turned into a speech just as how the king advisers tend to, I just needed the movie to be more direct about who mattered, what they wanted and why the next step was happening since most of the time as they go through towns its like the rebellion had its own different issue at each town they wreck. There is a good movie somewhere inside this because the subject gives Greengrass plenty to work with, and the cast, crowds, violence and scale all give the uprising a serious size. After watching the movie I was more interested in the rebellion than in Ploughman, who stays passive for so long that his stronger identity arrives too late, this is the main reason I only gave the movie a 7/10.
#theuprising, #andrewgarfield, #paulgreengrass, #history, #historicaldrama, #peasantrevolt, #rebellion, #medieval, #england, #robinhood, #plowman, #kingrichard, #drama, #action, #cinema, #moviereview, #movies, #review, #perioddrama, #uprising, #storytelling, #cinematography, #historymovie, #medievalmovie, #skiptvads
Rating: 70/100
