Film

The Field

Name: The Field
Genre: Drama
Released: 1990
Cast: Richard Harris, John Hurt, Sean Bean, Frances Tomelty, Brenda Fricker

Drama

A 1990 Irish drama about obsession, land, and the violence that erupts when tradition meets modernity. Richard Harris is mesmerizing as a farmer willing to destroy everything to keep a field his family has worked for generations. It's bleak, morally murky, and deeply rooted in rural Irish culture—a character study that turns into something far darker and more tragic.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you relish stubborn-character dramas about land, pride and community, where one obsessive man's pressure builds slowly like weather over a small rural village.

Skip it if you want brisk plotting or a sympathetic hero, since its central man is hard to warm to and the pace is deliberately unhurried.

What it asks of you: Settle in for nearly two hours of slow, dense talk and long, watchful silences, with the tension tightening steadily rather than arriving in bursts.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

In the Name of the Father1993

Daniel Day-Lewis in a true story of Irish injustice and wrongful imprisonment. Like The Field, it's raw, angry, and unflinching about Irish identity and the cost of standing against authority.

But Emotionally exhausting and often depressing. The pacing is slow, and some will find it didactic.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy2011

Gary Oldman's precise, quiet performance as a man consumed by a decades-old grudge. Both films understand that obsession is a kind of madness, and both move with deliberate, mounting dread.

But Glacially paced spy film with little action. Requires attention and rewards it, but doesn't make it easy.

The Quiet Girl2022

An Irish-language film about displacement, belonging, and the land. Gorgeously shot and deeply human in ways that echo The Field's examination of community and isolation.

But Subtitled, slow, and emotionally restrained. The quietness that makes it powerful can feel like distance.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Field

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Prophet2009

Both examine how a closed community's codes and expectations slowly corrupt a man, making monstrosity feel inevitable and almost noble.

A French prison drama about a young man's rise through brutal initiation and calculation. It shares The Field's fascination with how tradition, loyalty, and violence become indistinguishable in a closed world.

But Set in a prison, not a village, and in contemporary France. The brutality is graphic and sustained in ways that may overwhelm.

Scarlet Street1945

Fritz Lang's masterpiece about a decent man undone by obsession and desire. The moral corruption unfolds with the same inevitability as The Field's tragedy.

But A noir that's more interested in psychology than plot momentum. Black and white 1940s style may feel remote.

The Last of the Mohicans1992

Another 1990s period drama about cultures in collision and the violence that follows. Epic and intimate at once, with Daniel Day-Lewis again conveying immense restraint and ferocity.

But A different beast entirely—more action-driven and romantic. Some find the spectacle overshadows the character work.

Kes1970

Ken Loach's spare, devastating portrait of a working-class boy and his hawk. Like The Field, it's deeply rooted in place and class, and unflinching about disappointment and cruelty.

But Bleak British working-class drama with no catharsis. The boy's fate is written long before the film ends.

The Informant!2009

Matt Damon as a man whose integrity and obsession destroy his life. Black comedy that understands how self-righteousness can be as dangerous as malice.

But A very American film in tone and pacing. The comedy may undercut the gravity for viewers wanting pure tragedy.

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown1989

Daniel Day-Lewis again, as Christy Brown, in a portrait of will and stubbornness. It shares The Field's Irish setting and its fascination with characters shaped by defiance and circumstance.

But Feels dated in some of its sentimentality. The triumphalism of the ending sits uneasily with the film's darker moments.

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown poster

Hell or High Water2016

A modern western about men fighting for survival against economic forces beyond their control. The same theme of land and livelihood at stake, the same moral ambiguity about desperation.

But Contemporary and action-inflected in ways The Field resists. Some find it slick where it should be rough.

The Exterminating Angel1962

Both understand that social obligation and group pressure can be as violent as any weapon, and that stepping outside the community's code carries a price no one can afford to pay.

Buñuel's surreal masterpiece about guests who cannot leave a dinner party. Like The Field, it's about how communities enforce invisible rules that become lethal, and how civilisation is a thin fiction.

But Surreal, dreamlike, and darkly comic in ways that may feel cold. You have to accept its logic rather than question it.