Winstanley
FilmFour – World Tx 5th sept 2002
Courageous depiction of Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers’ struggle to establish a pre-socialist commune in Cromwell’s Britain. A detailed and dedicated depiction of political idealism by the director Kevin Brownlow.
Winstanley is a sombre historical drama, meticulously researched and as much a testament to the idealism of its director as it is to that of proto-Communist Gerrard Winstanley.
In 1649 Winstanley (Halliwell) and the Diggers set out to establish a commune on reclaimed land in Cobham, Surrey. Though committed to peace they were met with hostility and Winstanley’s ideal for living was doomed to fail. Brownlow presents all the grim realities of life in post Civil War Britain with fanatical attention to detail and everything from footwear to livestock were thoroughly researched. Undoubtedly this is one of the most authentic recreations of the Civil War era ever filmed and the clash between radicalism and the establishment finds a modern parallel in the presence in the cast of Sid Rawle – a leading light in Britain’s anarcho-hippie movement. [Sid Rawle: a fellow hippy and general alternative type. Here he is on the cover of some of my Stonehenge work http://tash.gn.apc.org/solst_0.htm]
Verdict
Shot in stark black and white, this is a brave, grave and deeply rewarding film that combines historical accuracy with the tragic story of a committed activist.
Film Fact
Gerrard Winstanley’s pamphlets in the British Museum were among those studied by Karl Marx as he formulated his own political theory.
Film Quote
When a man hath need of any corn or cattle, take from the next store house he meets with. There shall be no buying or selling, no fairs or markets, but the whole earth shall be the common Treasury for every man. Gerrard Winstanley
More about this film
It’s England, 1649 and with Cromwell in power, the country begins to recover after the Civil War, and the spirit of revolution lives on in a group of poor settlers who are labelled as the Diggers. Former soldier Gerrard Winstanley (Miles Halliwell) leads them, living by the belief that some of the late Monarch’s lands should be forfeited to the people, who will cultivate it and subsist as equals.
Selecting St George’s Hill, Surrey, as their new home, they begin to clear the land, causing resentment among the locals which is fuelled by the local hellfire preacher, John Platt (David Bramley). An army detachment is sent to deal with the Diggers, but its leader, General Lord Fairfax (Jerome Willis), extends tacit sympathy to the cause while remaining scrupulously neutral. His men have no such integrity, and plan breakaway attacks on Winstanley s group. Besieged, isolated and hungry, The Diggers’ resolve begins to fade.
Brownlow’s parallel career in film history and restoration is the key to his approach to filmmaking. In collaboration with production designer Mollo, he offers a painstaking recreation of fact, using Winstanley’s own works as a base. The reliance on detail makes Kubrick look sloppy, down to the rare breed societies who were asked to provide livestock of the time.
The project had been around since 1966, and only accelerated after funding from the British Film Insititute (BFI). A meagre budget prohibited the use of first-choice actors, who were replaced with a team of non-professionals – cast on appearance only – that would enable the production to shoot at weekends over one year.
Consequently it became a labour of love, reflecting that same quality which drove Winstanley’s own actions. But a production that had all the makings of earnest political polemic transpires to become a moving study of radicalism gone awry and there s even room for in-jokes, casting former BFI supremo Stanley Reed as a pedantic, exacting magistrate intent on destroying idealism.
