Review of A Field in England (2013) by Kevin M — 26 Jul 2013

A Field in England is bound to divide - Cavaliers won't like its lack of coherent plot and art house sensibilities, Puritans will object to the seemingly meaningless violence (oh, no , hang on they were into that) - no they'll object the general profanity and godlessness of it all. But few of us, in the kind of audience this film will attract are purely Puritans or completely Cavalier, and as longs you don't mind your plot lines scrambled, your sensibilities trampled on and the odd syphilitic cock (albeit in tasteful black and white), you may jump onto this unfairground ride and hang on to the ropes.

Visually, aurally it's a masterpiece; it's Bergmanesque in a good way (there are sequences that recall the merging of the faces in Persona); it's rich in dialogue and character. One early sequence disturbs as much as any of the savagery later unleashed: the hapless would-be scholar is deafened by a cannon explosion, and the film soundtrack mimics his damaged, muffled hearing and the panic that goes with losing one of your senses. It sets us up for seeing the later kaleidoscopic psychotropic mushroom trips from the point of view of the subject. This latter rampage of psychedelia is again beautifully filmed, visually interesting throughout.

The characters range from the convincing and strangely oracular fool to the menacing and truly evil, via a self-confessed coward and two rough and ready soldiers of fortune (one with more weapons than the other). There are strange tableaux, terrifying portents and the agony of haemorrhoids in this alchemical tale that does indeed take place in a field in England. The field itself is another star of the film, its windswept grasses stimulating all sorts of moods and pictures, its boundaries faintly threatening lines of black woodland, its contours alternately flat with no space to hide, or supplying hummocks behind which to cower. The soundtrack too is sumptuous, dense and a visceral counterpoint. The Moby like symphonic accompaniment to the aftermath of the scholar's strange enslavement by the necromancer is very powerful.

You'll emerge wondering what it was all about in literal terms, but with a sense of completeness, or else hopeless bewilderment - maybe it's the Seventh Seal of the 21st Century, though with only a tiny bit of that film's gentleness, maybe it's this century's Eraserhead . Time will tell - well tell something, probably enigmatically, but this film will always leave a lasting impression.