A bit of background: a fan of Wheatley's work, this is his low-budget black-and-white venture and I'm struggling to think of a director who has similarly taken the leap from high-end outings like Kill List and Sightseers to create something like this. This blends the psycheldelic elements of those trips, particularly the end scene of Kill List and employs some familiar British faces throughout. Michael Smilie, who is of Spaced and Luther fame is a Wheatley previous, as is Sightseers' Richard Glover. Glover's fun and frolics through this hallucinogenic trip as the aptly named Friend delivers the humour, albeit a sad one.
Reece Shearsmith of The League of Gentlemen is our protaganist, Whitehead, an alchemist's assistant fleeing from his master, portrayed and immediately skewered by Julian Barratt. Eventually he, Friend and another Civil War deserter, Jacob, are befriended and quickly held captive by Cutler, the only armed footsoldier amongst them. This is where the story went a bit lopsided for me, and I didn't really have a moment to think about piecing it together thanks to the keen visuals and trepidation to what I was seeing unfolded onscreen.
There are woodprint inspired scenes dicing up the action with the players holding key poses for the scene about to take place. There is a threatening black sun looming ever closer in the sky to swallow our cast. There is an odd game of intoxicated tug of war where the prize is Michael Smilie's O'Neill, beaten and undressed, who then dons his civil war garb in some of the most exciting symmetrical camerawork I have seen. I felt like I was watching a Samurai prepare himself for battle.
Whitehead and O'Neill are familiar with one another and something transpires in a tent while Friend whimsically stares into the molecular structure of a shovel blade. There are relentless bloodcurdling screams emanating from inside the tent which culminates in Whitehead, looking wild-eyed and grinning, leads O'Neill by a woven girdle into the field to find treasure. The euphoric soundtrack builds to a crescendo as this slowed-down chase begins to feel like uncomfortable viewing. Esoteric in his methods, O'Neill is seeking to find this unknown treasure and is using Whitehead as a human dowsing rod.
I thought it best to mention that scene, as it certainly left me squirming in my seat. Wheatley's token ultra-violence shows it's head as hallucinogens amplify confusion and the hurried need to defeat their enemy. Whitehead consumes almost his weight in mushrooms and what plays out is a slowed gunfight with added tension provided by the quickened pace to reload ancient weapons. Whitehead somehow envelops the field in a funghi-fuelled cyclone, making it difficult for O'Neill to find his escaped captives. There is a spectacular shot of a character's shin being completely blown apart leaving only a blackened bone connecting the leg. The visuals, like the soundtrack, build up to the height of these dizzying spells Whitehead is having before lulling into a quietening breath of release. The ending left everything ambiguous. As it was arriving I thought I was about to arrive in a purgatory Groundhog Day as Whitehead leans closer to the hedgerow he first stumbled through. It could be a man's journey to encompass and defeat the Devil, with friends there to defy him too.
A Field In England is a brave move, and no doubt a memorable one. It's certainly unsettling from start to finish but whether that will sit kindly with the regular moviegoer has been pretty quiet going in its wake. It marks the first film to be released simultaneously in cinema, on DVD, on television and via On Demand services. It's no hard loss for Wheatley, coming in at a budget of £300,000, but it certainly feels like a masterpiece that's been sitting in his mind for some time and it has definitely delivered.
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