Rebellion movies can sometimes be a tough nut to crack! They can be very good and then sometimes mediocre and unforgettable. I’m a big fan of movies that portray historical rebellions. They can be inspiring and make the audience dive into the history of that rebellion. Andrew Garfield stars in the latest historical rebellion movie, The Uprising; it’s about the peasant revolt of 1381 against English King Richard II, and it’s one of the more fascinating rebellions about the lower class rising against the upper classes or royalty. What started the rebellion was the introduction of another unfair poll tax to help pay for more campaigns during the Hundred Years’ War, and this was many years after the Black Death ravaged Europe. Peasants rose-up and marched to London to air their grievances with the King, especially his royal advisors who took advantage of a boy king. Richard II was only 14 at the time. This film tells the story of where the rebellion started, and that march to London, and then the aftermath. If you don’t know the history, I will not spoil it in this review, but tell you what makes this an interesting movie to watch, and why it also doesn’t live up to other movies about rebellion and revolution.
Let me just say that Andrew Garfield is one of my favorite actors, not just for his portrayal as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, but pretty much anything that he has done. He has done some interesting projects. Whether he’s playing Jonathan Larson, who wrote the musical Rent, or he’s playing a 17th century Jesuit priest in the movie Silence directed by Martin Scorsese. In this film, he plays a character who goes by the name the Plowman, which is not a name per se, as it is a description of what he did. He was a farmer. This film is gritty, with a lot of great action, but is powered more by the great performances of the cast, starting with Andrew Garfield. I think he will win an Oscar one day; I don’t know if it will be for this movie, although he is very good in it. This is one of his best performances. The other strong performances come from Woody Norman, who plays King Richard II, and Thomasin McKenzie, who plays a female rebel by the name of Alyce. There’s a lot to like about this film because it almost plays as a Shakespearean drama unfolding against a dreary English countryside. The photography and the lighting put you right in the middle of the action and make you feel like you are in the 14th century. Plus, aspects of this rebellion also inspire the story of Robin Hood, even if the time of Robin Hood is set nearly a century earlier. I should also mention the other standout performances by Cosmo Jarvis from Shogun, who plays real-life Englishman Walt Tyler, a major leader of the rebellion. This is very much a performance-driven story and brings to life a piece of English History that most do not know about, but it isn’t a perfect movie, and it’s not one that you’re probably going to go back and watch over and over.
What makes a film about a rebellion or revolution truly stand out goes beyond great performances. This is one of those few times where I heavily criticize the music. Revolution stories that are meant to inspire us are backed by a great musical score. Take Braveheart for example, the James Horner score is absolutely amazing and helps drive the emotional connection to the story despite the fact that the movie Braveheart is not really historically accurate, but it is a beautiful film with great performances. A movie like The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise can do the same thing and is also backed by a great score. The music of this movie is very grinding and at times too realistic, which makes it very dreary. It’s one thing to make the audience feel the intensity of the story, but you must also inspire the audience to go along with you on the journey of that rebellion or revolution. This story does not feel very inspiring because of the music, and it should be. The composer is Volker Bertelmann, who has made some great scores in films such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Lion, but it just doesn’t work in this film and will leave the audience not caring about what happens. It’s not often I go on and on about the music for a movie, but in this case, it makes the film and irritating at times. Great music can help set the tone of a movie. We know this from Star Wars to Indiana Jones or pretty much anything that John Williams has scored. Schindler’s List would not have been as powerful without his music. I want to like this movie more than I do, but it doesn’t draw me in the way that it should compared to other movies about revolutions, and all of the examples that I’ve given you RE better movies because of the score. The deafening score in this film makes it worse than the movie should be and wastes all the wonderful performances. The film does a great job of giving the audience the nuts and bolts of this uprising as it forces us to see both sides of the story, but it’s quickly forgettable because of the music and that’s the tragedy of the film.
The pacing is good, and the ending is great, plus it helps that the music gets a little bit better at the very end to help us feel more inspired by these peasant rebels. However, with so many movies being forgettable, the ones that truly stand out despite any problems the film has, great music and a great film score can save that film in so many ways. Most often not we may not necessarily remember the plot of the movie, but we will remember that great musical score. Star Wars, in a lot of ways, was just a silly science fiction movie with great space battles until John Williams’ iconic score brought all the emotion to the film that made it great. Try watching Star Wars without the music, and it’s not the same film. After watching The Uprising, I’m left wondering how much better this movie would have been if somebody like James Horner or John Williams or even hot and Zimmer had done the score. Despite this major flaw, the movie is worth watching at least once because of its fantastic performances and a modern telling of history’s forgotten rebellions. However, would you go back and watch this movie again compared to something like Braveheart…probably not. One redeeming quality is the inspiration for Robin Hood stories and there are some movies about the folk hero from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves to Ridley Scott’s version with Russell Crowe…both films have a great that makes those films better and are more entertaining than The Uprising !
