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Peterloo

PG-13 Released Apr 5, 2019 2h 34m History Drama TRAILER for List
67% Tomatometer 163 Reviews 43% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
In 1819 a cavalry charge on a peaceful protest at St. Peter's Field in Manchester, England, results in the Peterloo Massacre.
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Peterloo

Peterloo

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Critics Consensus

Peterloo proves writer-director Mike Leigh's populist anger remains undimmed - but that righteous fury occasionally overpowers the narrative.

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Critics Reviews

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Peter Rainer FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) It's talky, but a lot of the talk is quite interesting and passionate. It's sort of like being in a really good town hall meeting. Sep 27, 2019 Full Review Wenlei Ma News.com.au There's an emotional distance to Peterloo that often makes it seem stagey. Rated: 3/5 Jun 21, 2019 Full Review Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Still, it is a powerful, important part of anger-fueled history and is worth seeing. May 21, 2019 Full Review Calum Cooper Source (Scotland) Leigh seems to have made this film as a cautionary tale, warning those in power not to repeat the mistakes of history. Whether this is the case or not, it was what I personally took away from the film, and I found the message very powerful. Rated: 3/5 Jul 14, 2024 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review It's a masterfully made film, and a passionate statement from a humanist filmmaker that never resorts to drawing modern-day parallels; he does not need to, as the implications remain intractable. Rated: 4/4 Mar 3, 2022 Full Review Taylor Baker Drink in the Movies Episode 41: Best of 2019 So Far Rated: 75/100 Oct 4, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jerry S I remember how the national media based in London decided to sneer and hiss at the film. Amongst many, history in Britain is only important if it includes 'good things' - not like Manchester 1819, Derry 1972...or even Orgreave 1984. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/21/24 Full Review Dan K I love to experience history brought to life through an entertaining period piece. For the most part, the movie was well made, though at times, it had the feel of a made-for-television work. What really turned me off, however, was the hyperbolic overacting, as if they hired a bunch of stage actors to star in a film. I have to believe that, even in the early 1800's, people tended to behave fairly normally, rather than flailing about in exaggerated gestures and frequently delivering over-the-top speeches and impassioned soliloquies, as if performing in a never-ending high-school speech competition. The acting comes across as a caricature of what it is meant to depict, I believe, and this detracts significantly from the viewing experience. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 07/16/23 Full Review jerry d Beautifully photographed account of the events leading up to and including a 19th Century British working class demonstration that was brutally quashed -- with multiple fatalities -- by the ruling class. Of course, the chasm between rich and poor continues to wreck havoc in our lives today, giving this movie particular relevance. Unfortunately, the film runs at least a half an hour too long, with multiple redundant speeches that a good editor should have excised or a better writer and director should never have included. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review John R Absolute rubbish. Faux accents and a distorted account of the times. Miss Peakes worst by far. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 11/03/22 Full Review Audience Member I love that Mike Leigh took on this tale, as it shows that some things just never change. The moneyed elite in power will always find a hungry poor populace vermin to be destroyed in one way or another. In that sense, Peterloo succeeds. But the narrative could have been so much better, as basically we're all just waiting for what we know will happen...that peaceful people will soon be massacred. I would have loved to have known more about Henry Hunt (wonderfully played by Rory Kinnear), if only with just some historical text at the end, stating his fate after his arrest and the significance of this event on British history. Instead, I had to look it up on Wikipedia, which is rather odd considering I invested over two hours in this film. At 154 minutes long, I came away with more questions than answers. If Leigh's intent was to dramatize a tragic event in British history, I guess he did it, but why in the world was it such a tedious watch? Ultimately I found it disappointing as a film, but I'm glad to have learned about Peterloo, even if it felt like a history class taught by a dull teacher. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review ra b Very well made, but very boring. Such an important event portrayed horribly with a tedious and uninteresting script. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1819 a cavalry charge on a peaceful protest at St. Peter's Field in Manchester, England, results in the Peterloo Massacre.
Director
Mike Leigh
Producer
Georgina Lowe
Screenwriter
Mike Leigh
Distributor
Amazon Studios
Production Co
Amazon Studios, BFI Film Fund, Thin Man Films, Film4, British Film Institute
Rating
PG-13 (Sequence of Violence and Chaos)
Genre
History, Drama
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 5, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 4, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$116.7K
Runtime
2h 34m
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