The Original ‘No Kings’ Deplorables Lead a Chaotic Historical Epic

“What the hell did I just watch?” That might not be the takeaway the filmmakers of “The Uprising” intended. But it was the question I found myself asking at the close of this well-made film that tries to take a hard look at how justified rage against elites can curdle into blind extremism.This is a good and timely film both about the allure of populism in a world full of injustice and about how the fire of anger is an unsteady foundation for a society, compared to the firm ground of law and compromise. It is also an excellent character study about a man who discovers the world doesn’t reward his ideals, and a young king who finds he can prey upon the better angels of others to serve his power.It’s 1381 in southeast England, and the Black Death has ravaged the countryside. Tenant farmers here are barely holding on, forced to pay rent to their lords in order to work the land, living an existence that’s barely a step above pure serfdom.A farmer (Andrew Garfield, whose character is known only as Ploughman) is wracked with grief after losing his wife and all his children to plague. When the Crown needs more money after war abroad has drained the treasury, the king’s advisers decide to tax the common people. That sets King Richard II and his court full of reliable British character actors on a collision course with unlikely hero Ploughman and his comrades.The film’s biggest flaw is that it’s essentially four movies in one. It has a prelude that could have been directed by Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform, followed by a Herzogian meditation on ideas and extremism, and finally a rousing “Braveheart”-style ending with bittersweet overtones. The coda must be seen to be believed.And yet, except for the bonkers coda, they all work. The issue is how they fit together. Do these segments, with their own tonal shifts and camera styles, all belong in the same movie? Probably not — and it’s this inability to more smoothly transition between them that mars the movie’s message.What is the message? Well, that’s a bit muddled too. While I suppose writer and director Paul Greengrass is trying to be even-handed between the left and right — the word “deplorables” and the phrase “no kings” are both uttered at different points — I’d have appreciated more clarity.Mr. Greengrass and the script he wrote are to be commended for keeping the thrust of the narrative relatively faithful to the historical Peasants Revolt of 1381. History aside, the very nature of an anti-tax revolt suggests conservative values, though the rent freeze the peasants proposed both on screen and in real life is decidedly Mamdani-esque. There’s a brief reference to scapegoating Dutch immigrants taking jobs, though thankfully no one demands to build a wall or tax the rich.A charge across London Bridge could very well have been framed by the director with echoes of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Yet Mr. Greengrass has the discipline to keep his focus on the story of the revolt, looking for parallels to the modern day when they appear to him but not forcing them too dramatically. As a result, they mostly buzz in the background rather than make an impact.The movie is a slow-burn until about two-thirds of the way through, when it suddenly leaps into action mode – and along with it, the herky-jerky effects of Mr. Greengrass’ signature hand-held “queasy cam” camera. Again, it’s well-made and entertaining but feels like we’ve just been dropped into a different movie — “First Knight” or even “Lord of the Rings.”Mr. Garfield holds the screen well, his downtrodden head and quiet pleas for decency providing the heart of the movie. But there are true standout performances from 17-year-old Woody Norman as Richard II and Katherine Waterston as the king’s mother, Joan of Kent.The movie goes off the rails in the last ten minutes, with a bizarre, tacked-on coda that does not match anything that goes before it. The ending has engendered controversy, and if you haven’t heard about it I won’t spoil it for you here. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t have been surprised if the music playing over the end credits had been Bryan Adams’s “Everything I Do (I Do It For You),” from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”This is a shame since “The Uprising” is a well-made, well-acted, distinctive-looking film that touches on exactly the ideas both left-wing and right-wing populists should be talking about right now. But it tries to do too much, and in that respect it slips from a great film to a very good one; from what might have been a defining work of its era to a movie that will barely be remembered 10 years from now.

The Original ‘No Kings’ Deplorables Lead a Chaotic Historical Epic

The Original ‘No Kings’ Deplorables Lead a Chaotic Historical Epic

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