A Field in England Audio Commentary

Описание: Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Amy Jump, A Field in England (2013) is a black-and-white psychedelic historical horror film set during the chaos of the English Civil War in the 17th century. The film is a surreal, intense, and often humorous exploration of madness, superstition, and power, unfolding almost entirely within a single, remote field.
The narrative follows a small group of deserters fleeing from a violent, unseen battle. The group includes Whitehead (Reece Shearsmith), a timid, scholarly alchemist’s assistant; Cutler (Ryan Pope), a manipulative scavenger; and two other soldiers, Jacob (Peter Ferdinando) and Friend (Richard Glover). Seeking an alehouse, the group instead finds themselves trapped in a field surrounded by a ring of mushrooms. Cutler forces the group to consume these mushrooms, leading to shared hallucinations and a descent into paranoid confusion.
The group becomes enslaved by O'Neil (Michael Smiley), a sinister Irish alchemist who appears to be a rival to Whitehead’s master and a practitioner of dark arts. O’Neil coerces the men into searching for a hidden treasure, which he believes is buried within the field. As they dig, the film shifts from historical realism to a nightmarish, hallucinatory experience where the boundary between reality, drug-induced visions, and occult magic blurs.
A Field in England focuses on the intense power dynamics between the characters, particularly as O'Neil tortures Whitehead into acting as a human divining rod. The film explores themes of "Englishness"—mixing lowbrow humor, brutality, and mysticism. The field itself acts as a liminal space, a "pagan" setting where traditional religion fails, and the men are subjected to terrifying energies.
The film is visually striking, shot in high-contrast black-and-white, with scenes resembling old woodcut prints and featuring intense, experimental sequences, including rapid-fire editing and strobe effects during a pivotal, chaotic climax. It is widely interpreted as an allegory for the English Civil War itself, with O'Neil representing the absolute, tyrannical power of a monarch (Charles I), while Whitehead represents the evolving,, terrified, and ultimately rebellious Puritan conscience.
Ultimately, the film leaves its exact plot, and the fate of its characters, tantalizingly ambiguous, making it a cult classic noted for its unique atmosphere rather than a straightforward narrative. It ends with a, scene suggesting a cycle of,, corruption and,, madness has been passed on, leaving the viewer questioning what was, real and what was merely a,,, dream-like,,, experience