The artsy allegory Harvest is a period piece, and it takes a while to figure out just what period of European peasant history we’re in. The look of Harvest immediately reminded me of The Return of Martin Guerre, set in 16th century France. But Harvest’s story takes place in Scotland between 1750 and 1860, in the Highland Clearances; in this period, landowners switched to more profitable, less labor-intensive agriculture, thereby depopulating huge swaths of Scotland.
The central character is Walter (Caleb Landry Jones), who is, unusually, a peasant by choice. He had been manservant to a landowner, but fell in love with a rural woman and moved to her village. Walter is more cosmopolitan than his neighbors; although he isn’t familiar with maps, he quickly grasps the concept.
Walter’s former boss and current landlord is Master Kent (Harry Melling), a gentle soul adrift as he mourns his late wife. Kent is not just a kind landlord, he is laughably lenient as he overlooks bad behavior by his peasants.
But as Kent’s wife estate is settled, he is replaced by the ruthless, smirking relative Jordan (Frank Dillane of Urchin), who can’t wait to get rid of all these inconvenient peasants so more sheep can graze. There is, of course, nothing the peasants can do about it.
So, Harvest seems to be an allegory about the inhumanity of unbridled capitalism. That shouldn’t take two hours and 19 minutes to tell, but that’s how long Harvest drags on.
I was eagerly anticipating Harvest because of my admiration for its Greek director, Athina Rachel Tsangari. Her Chevalier was one of my Best Movies of 2016. (In 2011, Tsangari brought her hilariously offbeat Attenberg to SFFILM.) Harvest is Tsangari’s first English-language feature, and she used a different co-writer this time, which did not help with the resultant film.
If you must stream it, Harvest is available on AppleTV.