In the Middle Ages, a mysterious fire consumes the village stables and two community members are scapegoated for it. As fingers are pointed and paranoia comes to a roiling boil, the arrival of an unforgiving and wealthy landowner pushes the villagers further into disarray. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s new film is a scathing critique of authoritarian power.

This remote English village has always been prone to superstition and distrust. Hard work and the need to rely on every hand has kept things in balance, however. But when the powerful Edmund Jordan arrives to claim the village as his property, he is able to use their vulnerability to his decided advantage. Tsangari’s film examines the little-known “Enclosure Bills” of 17th Century England, where collectively owned land was seized by powerful interests. Harvest is a powerful and troubling film whose critiques reach across centuries and boundaries.