This Filthy Earth (2001, Rebecca Palmer, Shane Attwooll)

Andrew Kotting’s second film after his highly regarded Gallivant is based on Emile Zola’s classic novel La Terre , although set in England. Francine and Kath (Rebecca Palmer and Demelza Randall) are sisters, toiling on their dead parents’ farm. Buto (Shane Attwooll), father of Kath’s child, proposes marriage but only so he can gain control of the farm while Francine falls under the spell of local immigrant farmworker Lek (Xavier Tchili).

But as the harvest fails and Buto literally works a woman to death, so the locals, led by the sisters’ aunt Armandine (Ina Clough) seek a scapegoat for their misfortunes and turn on the outsider. Brutal in its portrayal of the harditudes of rural life and the effects on workers of both sexes, Kotting still shows their essential humanity while his camerawork is a feast for the eye, from the pastoral warmth of the early summer to the grimness of the denouement. Original, passionate film-making that, while obviously not aimed at the mass commercial market, is still to be treasured.

production details
UK | 111 minutes | 2001

Director: Andrew Kötting
Script: Sean Lock,

cast
Rebecca Palmer as Francine
Shane Attwooll as Buto
Demelza Randall as Kath
Xavier Tchili as Lek