This black and white biopic of Diggers founder Gerrard Winstanley's truly level take on these socialist ancestors never sacrifices authenticity for entertainment
• More from the Reel history archive
Winstanley (1975)
Director: Kevin Brownlow
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: A
Gerrard Winstanley began True Levellers, a Christian group devoted to egalitarian and communal living that formed in the wake of the English civil war. They became known as the Diggers, and are often considered precursors of socialists or communists.
Name check
Few things warm the cockles of a historian's cold, dispassionate heart like a long list of eminent advisers named in the opening credits of a film. Winstanley shouts out to several museum curators (from the V&A, Tower of London and the Museum of English Rural Life), somebody from the Roundhead Association (yes, it still exists) and a brigadier from the Sealed Knot. A prologue provides historical background, complete with...
• More from the Reel history archive
Winstanley (1975)
Director: Kevin Brownlow
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: A
Gerrard Winstanley began True Levellers, a Christian group devoted to egalitarian and communal living that formed in the wake of the English civil war. They became known as the Diggers, and are often considered precursors of socialists or communists.
Name check
Few things warm the cockles of a historian's cold, dispassionate heart like a long list of eminent advisers named in the opening credits of a film. Winstanley shouts out to several museum curators (from the V&A, Tower of London and the Museum of English Rural Life), somebody from the Roundhead Association (yes, it still exists) and a brigadier from the Sealed Knot. A prologue provides historical background, complete with...
- 12/13/2013
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
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