The Uprising
Let’s start our time-reflection by heading to the England of 1381. That was when what historians call the Peasant’s Revolt took place. Writer-director Paul Greengrass follows the basic facts of the revolt, which involved widespread anger among the English poor decimated by the plague and yet facing ever higher taxes. Around this he concocts a fictional story that includes several real-life rebel characters, including the charismatic leader Wat Tyler (played by Cosmo Jarvis) and priest John Ball (played by Jamie Bell), but focuses on an everyman he simply calls Ploughman (played by Andrew Garfield). Greengrass is a skilled filmmaker whose 2002 film Bloody Sunday was a powerful study of another infamous real-life incident – this one involving British soldiers who in 1972 shot and killed unarmed Irish protesters. But while that film superbly captured the feel of the time by making you feel as if you were actually there, The Uprising is mostly a retelling of a historical event done I a way that is so grim and predictable that it might have been penned by the actual Brothers Grimm themselves.
Practical Magic 2
Let’s now turn to something fictional but no less involving time since the film in question, Practical Magic 2, follows in the wake of a film that was released way back in the previous century. In 1998, to be specific. That’s when the original Practical Magic, directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, debuted. Now, these 28 years later, we have the sequel, again starring Bullock and Kidman, this time directed by the veteran Danish filmmaker Suzanne Bier. The conceit of the first film, which has the Owens sisters under a curse that causes anyone they love to die, continues here as the elder Sally (played by Bullock) tries to protect her two daughters. She does so by not even telling Kylie, played by Joey King, and Antonia, played by Maisie Williams, that they, too, are witches – much less under a curse. But things change when Kylie falls in love, and the object of that love, Gideon, played by Xolo Maridueña, is severely injured. And soon secrets are revealed, involving a trek to England, before all is resolved. As dark as The Uprising – the film that we reviewed in the first half of this show – was, Practical Magic 2 is light and airy … and a perfectly enjoyable late-summer film.
Movies 101 is hosted by Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, Mary Pat Treuthart and produced by Aaron Weer. Web support is provided by Anna Gyure Havlek.