A Field in England(2013)

 This was on Shudder's Folk Horror Channel and decided to watch it. I was reading a bit on the English Civil War for which this film is set before Whitehead, Friend, and Jacob venture towards wherever that field finds itself, as Cutler talks about an alehouse heading towards the alchemist, O'Neill, looking to settle his many debts by finding this treasure he's sure Whitehead will be able to lead them to like some sort of compass.

This war, like so many others, is about politics, religion, and real estate, the usual shit that war after fucking war, no matter the country, no matter the continent, results in dead bodies torn apart by weapons. This war just has 17th century weapons. Anyway O'Neill is just another among centuries and centuries of commanding, narcissistic assholes who make demands and expect them, using force when necessary. In the case of Whitehead, he either serves masters, prays to his God, fasts while others eat mushrooms, tries to run from fighting because he's not a soldier, or is deprived of agency through torturous submission.

The poses that happen periodically cracked me up because my mind would project thoughts of portraits painted favorably of those in war, having to hold still while the artist conducts quite a flattering canvas dedicated to them. Was that the filmmakers intention? I don't know. Probably not.

The B&W photography of this field, how they make it feel as if the party has drifted into some other place, walked through a portal or something; it's Lynchian to me. The treasure isn't what O'Neill believes it is: material desires aren't what Whitehead seemed destined to find.

I really got a kick out of these little scenes more than anything such as Friend's dick and balls issues diagnosed by Whitehead (he has a lot of knowledge since he educated himself with lots of books and study) and Jacob telling Friend to tell his wife that he burned down the barn out of protest for marrying her and that he actually plowed another sow in her sister!

The incredible faces of the cast and how they are shot, the attention to some historical detail, the uncanny depiction of time and place, and just how the film remains elusive in terms of deciphering its particular cinematic language...I'm guessing for some this is rewarding, while others will just find it enigmatic, more than likely pretentious, and even infuriatingly vague. I dug it a lot. In fact, I had a blast, even if it was very difficult and ambiguous.