Greengrass film revisits England’s defeated Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
Paul Greengrass’s new film *The Uprising*, starring Andrew Garfield, depicts the failed Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The article argues that British cinema often celebrates national failure but has largely avoided unsuccessful popular revolutions, leaving a gap in how the country tells its history.
The revolt began among poor people in Kent and Essex, amid anger over the poll tax, but factional divisions and conflicting aims weakened the movement. King Richard II outmanoeuvred its leaders; rebels were killed in London or returned home to face the tax. The film joins a small group of British works about defeated collective action, including *Winstanley*, *Comrades* and *Peterloo*, while the article contrasts this scarcity with other countries’ films about successful revolutions.
- *The Uprising* brings the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt to the screen.
- British films have rarely depicted failed popular revolutions.
- The revolt’s leaders were outmanoeuvred by Richard II.
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The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was an uprising by poor people in southern England, chiefly in Kent and Essex, triggered by anger over a poll tax that pressed harder on commoners than the wealthy. The movement was fractured by divisions among its leaders over their objectives.
King Richard II outmanoeuvred the rebel leadership, leading to deaths in London and the surviving insurgents returning home to face the original tax without winning concessions. The uprising was ultimately unsuccessful.
British cinema has rarely made films about unsuccessful popular uprisings, in contrast to traditions elsewhere. Paul Greengrass's new film *The Uprising*, starring Andrew Garfield, addresses this relative scarcity in how the country portrays its own historical episodes.
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The case for
The underrepresentation of unsuccessful popular uprisings in British cinema is culturally significant because it leaves a gap in how the nation understands its own history. These stories matter precisely because they represent ordinary people's attempts to challenge established power, and their absence creates an incomplete historical record that privileges certain narratives over others. Films like The Uprising help restore visibility to radical movements and popular resistance that have shaped British society, even when those movements ultimately failed.
The case against
There is no inherent obligation for cinema to systematically cover all historical events or to prioritise unsuccessful revolutions as a category. The relative scarcity of such films likely reflects genuine audience interest, dramatic considerations, and filmmakers' artistic choices rather than a cultural failing. British cinema has extensively explored working-class struggle and historical drama across many contexts; the absence of this particular subset does not necessarily constitute a meaningful gap that requires correction.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Mort la révolution! Why UK film loves a failed rebellion”.