Revolt of 1381 “does not seem distant history but the near future”

“ Qas I began reading about the world in 1381, with the oligarchs protecting their privileges, the corrupt court and the angry population, I felt that it did not seem distant history but the near future,” said Paul Greengrass, who wrote the argument during the covid-19 pandemic at a press conference to release the film.

The facts date back to the reign of Richard II, crowned as only 10 years old and leader of England in the aftermath of the Black Death, which killed 50% of the European population. Paul Greengrass wrote the argument with the help of historian Dan Jones, author of “Sumer of Blood: The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381”, a book on the revolt edited in 2009.

“ This is one of the first events in the history in which we began to hear the voices of ordinary people,” Dan Jones said. “When we started talking about the argument, there was this feeling of anger, a popular feeling that injustice was deeply embedded in the system, that the law was corrupt and law enforcement agents used it to protect the privileges of the oligarchs.”.

The film is starring Andrew Garfield, who plays a nameless man, referred to only as “The Lavrator”. It is someone whose family died of bubonic plague and becomes an accidental instigator of one of the largest popular uprisings in history.

“He is a reluctant leader,” featured actor Andrew Garfield. “He is more pain than anything else, and there is something transforming in accepting this pain,” he continued. “It’s hard to talk about this because it’s about what it means to have a soul and to fight for the dignity of that soul.”.

The actor considered that the film “looks like a cry from the soul to the very moment we are living”, and tells of the journey of “multiple heroes who create change together”.

King Richard II is played by Thomasin McKenzie, who tried to humanize a very troubled leader. “He was so malevolent that it was difficult. I hate him”, confessed the young actor, stressing that the king was mentally unstable.

“His power was murder,” he said. The Peasants' Revolt allowed him to realize that he was being used by counsellors and led him to try to deal with his own power. “The king was the second most important after God and he believed it,” said McKenzie.

But the film also explores the rigidity that involved women, even those closest to power. The king's mother, played by Katherine Waterston, watched everything without being able to say what she really thought. That was an important point for the actress, who criticized films about medieval times that give women a freer reality than they actually had.

“I really enjoyed her silence in this film. Verbalizing was not always possible and I felt the frustration of not being able to speak, the suffering that this caused”, said Waterston.

Historian Dan Jones also looked into it, mentioning that a current focus on historical research on the medieval era is to investigate women's experiences. “The film will resonate with the audiences,” said Jones, drawing a parallel with the post-covid world.

“ A pandemic can really expose a society and strip it of a lot. When you have something like covid or Black Death, this shows what really exists”, he said. “The reconstruction of the world later, as we have seen in our world today, is full of challenges. As people try to protect their position, as they feel that this should be an opportunity for a new way of life, and then they are denied that opportunity.”.

Paul Greengrass joined these dynamics in a film that he planned in a grand way, in the “Gladiator” style: “I wanted to make a great show film about the revolution,” he said.

“The Revolt” is a co-production of Blumhouse Productions, Thank You Pictures and Supernix with Focus Features distribution.

The premiere is scheduled for 17 September in Portuguese cinemas.