A Field in England (2013) on Netflix
NR20131h 30mDramaHistoryHorror
Fleeing a Civil War battle, the alchemist's assistant Whitehead joins three deserters, who are led into a field. There they unearth the wizard O'Neil, who sets him to finding buried treasure.
- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.2/1015,222 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
Whitehead, an astrologer and an assistant to an alchemist, is running from the violence of the English Civil War when the soldier Cutler kills his pursuer, Commander Trower, and takes him along. Cutler brings him to Jacob and Friend, two recruits who would rather find an alehouse than keep fighting. Cutler cooks a meal of mushrooms he picks nearby, and Whitehead, who is fasting, refuses to eat. When the four men pull a carved wooden post from the ground, they uncover O'Neil, a rival alchemist holding documents stolen from Whitehead's master. O'Neil takes charge of the group and promises treasure hidden somewhere in the field, with Whitehead as the one who must find it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Field in England (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A Field in England was released in the UK on 5 July 2014 across cinemas, DVD, free TV and video-on-demand at the same time, which The Hollywood Reporter called the first simultaneous release of a homegrown title on all four.
- Ben Wheatley's interest in the English Civil War setting came from a documentary he filmed about the Sealed Knot reenactment society; researching it, he learned 17th-century people ground mushrooms into dust and blew it into people's faces before doing magic tricks.
- Wheatley and cinematographer Laurie Rose decided spontaneously to shoot in black-and-white, and studied Peter Watkins's Culloden and other 1960s and 1970s arthouse films to work out the style.
