A Field In England — A Review

27th July, 2013: A Field In England.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll possibly say it again: genius is a hard thing to define.

Especially in a field as slippery as artistic creation: where I don’t necessarily have the critical skills skills or education to back up my view.

In the circumstances, I make the best effort I can: describing my preferences, discoveries and peeves — and the associated reasoning — as well as I can.

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And it has to be said, I’ve caught a couple of damn good movies, over the course of the past few days: the 2006, Pan’s Labyrinth and 2001’s The Devil’s Backbone: both directed by Guillermo del Toro, and both fantastic films.   (Although I have to admit, I preferred The Devil’s Backbone, finding that it had an emotional resonance that worked well for me.)

But I’ve caught another film, tonight: one I rented from iTunes.

The 2013 Ben Wheatley, multi-platform release, A Field In England.

And when I say multi-platform, I mean multi-platform: including a showing — on its release date, 5th July of this year — on the UK’s Channel Four.   More on that later, I think.

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Valhalla Rising: Blood, Guts and the New Jerusalem …

You know, I think — think — that Movie Night Adrian, Dr Kevin, and I have seen something of a Marmite movie, tonight …

Let me clarify that, for those of you who don’t know.

Marmite is a yeast extract made in the UK that — as its adverts constantly tell us — you either love or hate.

Personally?

I love the stuff!

But I think I’ve found an almost valid comparison.

You see, as Adrian, Dr Kevin and I all had an evening free, tonight, so I invited the pair of them over to catch a film.

And, of course, Adrian being Adrian, he’d managed to pick up SOMETHING from Brentwood Library, bless him.

The very obscure, Nicholas Winding Refn directed, Valhalla Rising.

Which sees Mads Mikkelson play One-Eye, an mute, one-eyed, Norse warrior who is press-ganged onto a crusade to the Holy Land.

One that goes seriously adrift, and finishes in what appears to be … well …

Decidedly not Jerusalem.

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Actually, is now a good time to mention Vinland … ?

Because that’s where they seem to have ended up … !

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In any case, I think I can stick — almost — to my assessment that this is something of a Marmite movie.

Almost …

Because Valhalla Rising isn’t a ‘Love It’ or ‘Hate It’ sort of film.

It’s a film that I think you’ll either turn off after about the space of ten minutes.

Or, much like Movie Night Adrian, Dr Kevin and me, you’ll be glued to.

And given how beautifully shot this film actually is, I suspect you’ll find the latter.