source: Winstanley

Gerrard Winstanley (1609 – 1676) was an English Protestant religious reformer and political activist during the period after the English Civil Wat under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He was one of the leaders of a movement which called itself the True Levellers, was known by others as the Diggers, and could be characterised as a form of Christian Communism. This little-known and well-intentioned film about the radical movement - directed and co-written by Kevin Brownlow - will not be to all tastes. Visually, it reminds one of the best of early cinema such as that of Eisenstein: 4:3 ratio, black and white, distant shots of figures, close up shots of faces, a variety of framed shots. And it is a vivid and authentic reaction of the period. But much of the acting is very amateurish and there is a lack of both characterisation and narrative.

Directed by Kevin Brownlow, and based on a true story, "Winstanley" documents the efforts of Gerrard Winstanley (Miles Halliwell), a social reformer who resisted the privatisation of once common land, and tried to establish a self-sufficient farming community in 17th century England. Essentially a small-scale experiment in socialism/communism, Winstanley's project was crushed by the status quo. If history teaches us anything, it's that any major attempt to redistribute land, share wealth, nationalise resources or cooperate, gets you swiftly killed, couped or invaded by those with power. From pre-Biblical times, right up to the 20th century, and even today, with the countless overt and covert operations of modern neo-Imperialists, anyone who has attempted to implement any egalitarian policy that even remotely cuts into private profit, has been violently crushed. This is a lesson which Gerrard Winstanley learns the hard way, as he attempts to rally farmers and workers in Surrey, England. The irony of "Winstanley" is that it takes place after a supposedly "progressive" social revolution. Afterall, the first English Civil War had just ended, and King Charles the 1st killed by Parliamentarians. But life for ordinary British men and women didn't get better; the absolute rule of monarchs was simply replaced by the rule of equally cruel landowners, all of whom accelerated Land Enclosure policies. Then the Restoration came, and Kings were back in charge. Feuds between British royalists, parliamentarians, capitalists and workers would then go on throughout the 1700s and 1800s, giving way to many riots (notably the 1830 Swing Riots), reforms and various regressive and progressive policies. These tensions continue to this day. Director Kevin Brownlow is a renowned film historian and expert in silent cinema. Perhaps because of this, "Winstanley" is impeccably shot, and at times resembles the works of Bill Douglas (particularly "Comrades"), Pontecorvo, Rosselini and Eisenstein. Though shot on a low budget, the film also boasts fine production design. Its acting has been criticised (like Pasolini, Brownlow utilises amateur actors, some real-life political activists), but these raw qualities merely amplify the film's agitprop credentials. Incidentally, Brownlow directed "It Happened Here" in 1966, a low budget war drama. Stanley Kubrick would donate film stock to that film's production. Kubrick's own period drama, "Barry Lyndon", premiered the same year as "Winstanley". 8.5/10 – Worth one viewing. See "The Wind That Shakes the Barley".

Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's minor classic – a sort of pastoral Spartacus that develops into a chilly Mosquito Coast – regards the 17th century reformist-activist leader Gerrard Winstanley, and it really puts the period in period drama. Made for tuppence, it memorably recreates a time and place too often the reserve of buttoned-up aristocrats. Here it is the domain of the common digger, eking the living on God's land. Problem is, General Lord Fairfax reckons the land belongs to him. You just have to zip over to IMDb and click on each cast member to get a taste of what an achievement this film is. Other than Jerome Willis (Fairfax himself), you're hard-pushed to find another professional actor among the cast. So yes, some of the performances are amateurish by default. But others are remarkable: aside from Miles Halliwell's titular visionary (whose brow is the very definition of furrowed), David Bramley's Parson Platt in particular stands out as a model of eerie poise and stern implacability. But it's the photography that really brings the film to life. In sharp monochrome, all the colour of rural England seems to breathe. The faces of the ex-soldiers, scarred like land masses, look like they're filmed in 3D. And then there is the constant mood of inventiveness, with the editor (Sarah Ellis, hacking the frame with Schoonmaker-esquire skill and savagery) unafraid to lurch from extreme close-up to echoing long shot, and the directors even shifting focus to a first-person perspective during one of the many attacks on the diggers' settlement. With its timeless themes of the stricken many versus "the covetous few", Winstanley is as relevant now as ever (not least when one offscreen character compares Winstanley's celebrity prophet to a certain Muhammad). Its unique atmosphere, striking visuals and strong plotting elevate it to essential viewing.

Today the term "indie film" is a bloated cliché, misapplied to any movie with a budget under $50 million and not too much CGI, regardless of how conventional and hackneyed the film is. To see really independent cinema you have to go back to the 60s and 70s, when revolutions in the technology allowed eccentrics and visionaries, working totally outside the industry and with virtually no money, to make truly unique movies. Folks like Warhol and Waters and Anger in the US, Herzog in Germany, and the team of Brownlow and Mollo in the UK. All very different from one another (and everyone else), which is part of what makes them authentic independents. Starting when they were just 18, Brownlow and Mollo made two extraordinary history-based films. First they spent eight years (and something like 20,000 pounds, minuscule even in 1970s currency) making "It Happened Here," a what-if fantasy about England occupied by the Nazis during World War II that looks so realistic you could be fooled it's a documentary if you're history-challenged. Then, with an equally tiny budget and fierce attention to detail, they made the true-to-history "Winstanley," about the proto-democracy (and proto-Quaker, and proto-hippie) revolt of the Diggers, Levellers and Ranters in 17th-century England. Again it looks so real it's like a documentary somehow shot in the 1640s, but it's also beautiful, poetic and philosophical in a kind of Herzogian way. They're both remarkable little films, unlike anything else, that should be remedial must-see's for anyone who likes or is involved in what's called indie film nowadays.

Here's the synopsis bit: in the political and social ferment following the English Civil War a pamphlet called The New Law of Righteousness, was published by Gerrard Winstanley advocating a form of Christian Communism. He set up a self-sufficient commune of "Diggers" to claim back common land for the poor and dispossessed. Which didn't please the loutish locals, or the rich landlords, and especially not pious parson Platt. Cue yobbish raids on the peace-abiding commune; the humble diggers frequently beaten up, their simple settlement smashed, their small straw-bale houses burnt down. The film was made over a period of 6/7 years on a shoe-string with mostly amateur actors picked more on authentic look (i.e bad teeth) than credible acting ability. I've noticed that the best way to direct a non- professional cast seems to be to not give them much dialogue to say or complicated feelings to emote; just get them accentuating how they normally look and ordinarily are – which in this case meant lots of dirty plaintive faces suffering misery-inducing hardship, while wearing dopey hobbit hats. Winstanley is played by Mike Halliwell – a teacher – who, when sermonising to his illiterate peasant flock, sounded like he was tutoring posh kids at a public school; he's earnest enough (brow is set firmly to furrowed) but not entirely convincing; too nice and polite, too 20th century well-mannered – to cut it as a rough hewn 17th century charismatic visionary. Another 20th century incursion – altho this one seemed deliberate – was the involvement of real life "diggers": Sid Rawle's bunch of anarchic 70′s squatters recast as 17th century hippy Ranters; they monkey mad- eyed and butt-naked around the camp. Winstanley's sober (True) Levellers seemed by comparison, tame – not free-spirited, but merely meekly subservient – passively yoking themselves to yet another compliant form of pious Bible puritanism. Considering this film was more or less made for nothing it looks great; the black and white cinematography seems to crisply authenticate all the mud and misery; rain dripped off bare branches, dripping onto blank faces, squalling over sodden pixie hovels (why did they build their dwellings so small i wonder); the sooty smoke and crackle of the campfire so tangible i was warming my hands on the laptop screen. This film – along with Bill Douglas's Comrades – would agitate any aspiring lefty activists. I felt leftily activated enough to check out Winstanley, Sid Rawle, The Ranters, The Levellers, etc on Google. I didn't go as far as Christian Communism though. That looked a bit too back breakingly dull for me.

A great piece of independent filmmaking!Intelligent,well directed and acted.These two filmmakers had a ton of talent .Too bad they only made two films,but luckily they are both classics.This film is very much like an early Kubrick film i.e. 'The Killing'.The locations and the fact that the were lensed on a monochrome made me feel the landscapes, situations and the plight of the people.A must see for any film lover!!!

Wonderful film. Cinematogaphy is brilliant. Story is one long overdue in telling (few people knew of the diggers prior to this film, outside of a small alternative community). Memorable scenes, such as the crossroads confrontation between the Puritan parson and Winstanley. The battle scenes at the start are artfully, sparingly, and convincingly drawn. Winstanley himself may come off as a bit saintly, but he's nonetheless compelling, and a good choice for the role (he was a schoolteacher by trade and amateur actor). The attention to historical detail borders on the fanatical, and is well worth watching. And much of the dialogue is drawn from actual writings of Winstanley himself.

As cinema Winstanley is more interesting than entertaining. The movie was made in conscious imitation of Eisenstein, easy to dismiss for anyone weaned on MTV. But Brownlow is a careful and capable student of the classic silent film, and if you are comfortable with the originals, you will feel right at home here. The real story is also easy to overlook. Superficially it is about the poor persecuted diggers -- portrayed as post-apocalypse hobbits, their apocalypse having been the enclosure of the commons and the English Civil War. But the dramatic center of the story, and hence of the movie, is not so much Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers as it is Thomas Fairfax and the New Model Army. Fairfax is a successful revolutionary general, and like every successful revolutionary leader in history he must confront the dilemma of how much revolution is too much. On this conflict within Fairfax's conscience is based the ongoing dance between him and Winstanley, and the unfolding of the story. It is not a simple 'us versus them,' and both men know it. Both are revolutionaries, yet both see value in some parts of the old order. The difference is that Fairfax has already overturned the parts of the old order that he disliked, while Winstanley still aspires to further revolution -- or perhaps counter-revolution, since like many radicals he idealizes a lost golden age of pastoral simplicity. Winstanley has no power to succeed on his own, so his best hope is to win over Fairfax, both by argument and by a demonstration that his theories can work in practice. Fairfax is at first willing to give him this chance. Fairfax, having fought successfully and won power, is becoming pragmatic. Winstanley, being poor and powerless, can afford to remain idealistic. And this increasing divergence is what makes Winstanley the movie an interesting story, rather than merely a film class exercise. It does not make it a great movie, or even a very good one, but it does make it worth watching. 6/10. *** SLIGHT SPOILER *** Part of the reason to watch this movie is to savor the period props. The arms and armor are mostly the real deal, borrowed from the Tower of London. The buildings and furniture are mostly 17th century, too. Even the livestock are ancient breeds, preserved by hobbyist farmers. But then there is the Diggers' clothing: the cloth looks machine woven, rather than homespun. Not a big deal, I know, but it is inconsistent with the rest of the very careful production. The DVD also includes a "making of" documentary, which is great fun. Winstanley was a no-budget labor of love for all involved, and Brownlow describes some clever tricks for working with non-professional actors. A must-see for film students.

During the 17th century, Gerrard Winstanley, a bankrupt English merchant and social reformer, organizes one of the first communes to be established in the Western world along with a small band of followers known as the Diggers. Filmed in black and white, and using a cast made up mainly of amateurs, including real life activist Sid Rawle who plays a Ranter (English Revolution period anarchist-type group). it is based on the 1961 David Caute novel Comrade Jacob, and the armour used was actual armour from the 1640s, borrowed from the Tower of London. An influential film that has inspired modern day films such as A Field in England.