Peterloo

Name: Peterloo
Genre: Drama, History
Released: April 5, 2019
Duration: 154 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Adam Long, Alastair Mackenzie, David Bamber, David Moorst, Jessie Vinning

2019

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Ratings

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5.7

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5.7	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Ratings

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Peterloo

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Movie Details & Credits

Amazon Studios | Release Date: April 5, 2019 | PG-13

Starring: Adam Long, Alastair Mackenzie, David Bamber, David Moorst, Jessie Vinning, Karl Johnson, Leo Bill, Mark Ryan, Maxine Peake, Michael Culkin, Nico Mirallegro, Pearce Quigley, Philip Jackson, Rachel Finnegan, Robert Wilfort, Rory Kinnear, Simona Bitmate, Tim McInnerny, Tom Meredith

Summary: Filmmaker Mike Leigh portrays one of the bloodiest episodes in British history, the infamous Peterloo Massacre of 1819, where government-backed cavalry charged into a peaceful crowd of 80,000 that gathered in Manchester, England to demand democratic reform.

Director: Mike Leigh

Genre(s): Drama, History

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 154 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Sep 1, 2018

Mike Leigh brings an overwhelming simplicity and severity to this historical epic, which begins with rhetoric and ends in violence. There is force, grit and, above all, a sense of purpose; a sense that the story he has to tell is important and real, and that it needs to be heard right now. Read full review

Moira Macdonald

Apr 18, 2019

Fascinating. Read full review

Fionnuala Halligan

Sep 1, 2018

This magnificently-realised film moves from feeling like a long, dry history lesson to becoming an angrily-direct and emotional tribute to the reformers of the past. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Apr 2, 2019

Peterloo does get progressively more compelling as it goes. Leigh hasn’t lost his knack for finding first-rate but relatively little-known actors. Read full review

Peter Travers

Apr 4, 2019

Leigh’s visceral staging, especially in the climactic moments — brilliantly shot by his longtime collaborator/cinematographer Dick Pope — brings home the significance of a 200-year-old bloodbath that still speaks urgently to the disenfranchised. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

Apr 17, 2019

Instead of a radical call to action, it's a long slog of wigs and oration. Read full review

Kerry Lengel

Apr 18, 2019

It doesn’t take long to suspect you are witnessing an epic fail of Alexander proportions — a visionary filmmaker pouring years of craft and ambition, not to mention millions of dollars and the talents of dozens of gung-ho actors, down the drain of a misconceived “statement.” Read full review

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User Reviews

Sankya

Apr 6, 2019

Mike Leigh is a treasure and he has made another film that shouldn't just be shown in film school but in history classes as well. Wish I could have seen it in a cinema

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

imherv

Jun 22, 2020

Peterloo shows a vision on the part of the people, from its construction to its execution. I consider it a good film since the film shows its base, its integration within Manchester until the end of the well-known Massacre of Peterloo in 1819, a year before the Industrial Revolution. WhatPeterloo shows a vision on the part of the people, from its construction to its execution. I consider it a good film since the film shows its base, its integration within Manchester until the end of the well-known Massacre of Peterloo in 1819, a year before the Industrial Revolution. What becomes crucial in the history of the film 'Peterloo'.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

whitewalker999

Apr 11, 2019

I went into this movie expecting to love it (being a Mike Lee fan & history buff) but instead found myself checking emails half way through; something I've never done before but by that time half the audience had left so there was no one sitting behind me to disturb. The first 2 hours of theI went into this movie expecting to love it (being a Mike Lee fan & history buff) but instead found myself checking emails half way through; something I've never done before but by that time half the audience had left so there was no one sitting behind me to disturb. The first 2 hours of the film are spent on the build up to the massacre with a scant 3 scenes post-massacre & zero information on what happened as a result of it. The film is clearly Mike Leigh's response to Brexit & possibly his depressing message is that no matter how often the common masses outside of London rise up to challenge a government that is supposed to be governing on their behalf but isn't, nothing changes; but looking at the bigger historical picture that's not true. Overall I think this subject-matter would have lent itself far better to a limited TV series than this over-long movie which whilst beautifully shot & acted was light on drama.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amheretojudge

Jun 21, 2019

Leigh's probably the weakest link in his collection, definitely ambitious and rich, but breathes sad air.

Peterloo Leigh is going through historical events. Day by day, if you ask me. I am a fan of, the writer and director, Mike Leigh's work for a while now, and yet there lies thisLeigh's probably the weakest link in his collection, definitely ambitious and rich, but breathes sad air.

Peterloo

Leigh is going through historical events. Day by day, if you ask me. I am a fan of, the writer and director, Mike Leigh's work for a while now, and yet there lies this project. The effort, the art and his work is admirable, something you won't feel until you see those curtains fall and the massacre gets to you, not manipulatively, but infomercially. But to reach that moment, Leigh asks for a lot from you. First of all, let me compliment his big verbal game that he has staged in this film. It preaches, speeches, gossips, bargains, complaints, bickers, converses, monologues, threatens, provokes, orders and whatnot to woo you. The film has loads of characters to cover in one ground. Since they are all heading towards one big field, the finale. The perspective matters just as the motifs behind it.

But covering these many tracks for this much time- it is surprisingly long, like A Passage To India long long- the transition ought to be smooth. And Leigh is smart enough to arrange the puzzles like a trail. But surprisingly he doesn't feel the need to follow a fluid change in transition. Which is smart, since, he has broken the entire narration into its own entirety. The scenarios stands for what they are. Not interdependent on any of the incidents following or preceding it- loosely, of course. But here is where he digs his own grave.

Even though he has wisely kept one and only one target for the audience to look forward to. You cannot help yourself but get disenchanted every time he switches from one window to another. Another reason why it takes a while to time jump back into that chaos, is because Leigh organizes and jumbles the scene, the set, the players, on screen. There is a lot of "not this, not that" than being "bad this, flawed that", which undoubtedly shows his experience. For instance a film of such length asks for little treats and fascinating elements, convincing its audience to hold onto their seats. It is not their. Not in Peterloo.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Mauro_Lanari

Jun 30, 2021

(Mauro Lanari)
Predictable super flop at the box office as Leigh "deprives Peterloo of proletarian emphasis, thus addressing it to an intellectual audience rather than to that audience that should make indignant and, perhaps, even rebel" (Daria Pomponio). "The meticulous analysis of the(Mauro Lanari)
Predictable super flop at the box office as Leigh "deprives Peterloo of proletarian emphasis, thus addressing it to an intellectual audience rather than to that audience that should make indignant and, perhaps, even rebel" (Daria Pomponio). "The meticulous analysis of the vanity of the word in both factions and the coldness, austerity, detachment as an antidote to such rhetoric are excessive" (Aldo Spiniello), the caricatured and grotesque deformations (Grosz instead of Turner) are superfluous, and at the end the epicness and the emotional involvement pay the price: it would have been much less boring to read an essay on the subject.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ozayrica

Jul 16, 2019

This movie tries to do character development by using extremely unnecessary and jarringly slow scenes mostly composed of the extremes of either drawn out speeches or small actions or but it ends up being tepidly overlong and characters are portrayed stifilingly lifelessly and by time theThis movie tries to do character development by using extremely unnecessary and jarringly slow scenes mostly composed of the extremes of either drawn out speeches or small actions or but it ends up being tepidly overlong and characters are portrayed stifilingly lifelessly and by time the runtime has elapsed you will look back on a two hours which are worse than boring or droning - actively unenjoyable to watch.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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