The Uprising Review: Greengrass examines complexities of 1381 Peasants' Revolt

Director Paul Greengrass transforms the 1381 Peasants' Revolt into an urgent historical drama centred on an unnamed farmer grappling with taxation, inequality and state indifference. Andrew Garfield's portrayal of the Ploughman—a wounded man whose personal grief evolves into public resistance—anchors the film's exploration of how revolutions begin without grand plans.

The film's strength lies in refusing to romanticise rebellion. What starts as resistance accumulates competing ambitions, personal resentments and ideological fractures, suggesting that overthrowing an unjust order proves easier than building consensus on its replacement. Violence directed at immigrants further complicates any simple narrative of righteous uprising.

Greengrass's kinetic visual style brings force to battle sequences, though sustained intensity occasionally overwhelms momentum. While the ruling establishment is occasionally sketched in broad strokes, the film's core tension—exploring what happens when a righteous cause acquires its own momentum—adds substantive weight to its examination of divided loyalties and anger.