Peterloo (film)

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Peterloo
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMike Leigh
Written byMike Leigh
Produced byGeorgina Lowe
Starring
CinematographyDick Pope
Edited byJon Gregory
Music byGary Yershon
Production
companies
Distributed byEntertainment One
Release dates
  • 1 September 2018 (2018-09-01) (Venice)
  • 2 November 2018 (2018-11-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time
154 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million
Box office$1.9 million[2]

Peterloo is a 2018 British historical drama, written and directed by Mike Leigh, based on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. The film was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival.[3][4] The film received its UK premiere on 17 October 2018, as part of the BFI London Film Festival, at HOME in Manchester.[5] The screening marked the first time that the festival had held a premiere outside London. Leigh said he was delighted that Peterloo would be premiered "where it happened".[6]

It was released in the United Kingdom on 2 November 2018,[7] by Entertainment One and in the United States on 5 April 2019, by Amazon Studios.

Background[edit]

The film Peterloo marks the 200th anniversary of the notorious Peterloo Massacre. On 16 August 1819, a crowd of some 60,000 people from Manchester and surrounding towns gathered in St Peter's Fields to demand Parliamentary reform and an extension of voting rights. At that time, Manchester had no members of parliament of its own while the whole of Lancashire was represented by two county MPs and middle and working class men and all women were denied voting rights.

The meeting was peaceful but the armed government militias charged the crowd on the pretext of an attempt to arrest a leader of the meeting. The behaviour of the crowd & toll of casualties was disputed but as many as 18 people were killed and up to 700 wounded. After the massacre the government immediately launched a crackdown on public assembly and electoral reforms on the pretext that the country was heading towards armed rebellion. The outcry led to the founding of the Manchester Guardian and played a significant role in the passage through Parliament of the Great Reform Act[8] which extended the franchise to 'head of household' middle-class men.

Plot[edit]

After the Battle of Waterloo, Joseph returns home from service in the Duke of Wellington's army to Manchester and his close-knit working class family headed by parents Joshua and Nellie. Joshua, son Robert, daughter Mary, and daughter-in-law Esther all earn a living by manual labour in a cotton mill. An economic depression makes work impossible for the traumatised Joseph to find and threatens the family's livelihood. The family is sympathetic to the campaigns for equal civil and political rights for all men and against the Corn Laws that prevent them from buying cheaper imported grain. Joshua, Joseph, and Robert attend political meetings where local activists including John Knight, Samuel Bamford and John Bagguley speak out against the system of government that is elected only by the upper class and aristocracy; Nellie attends a meeting of the Manchester Female Reform Society. The local authorities, led by magistrates Colonel Fletcher, Reverend William Robert Hay, Reverend Charles Ethelston and Mr. Norris and Deputy Chief Constable Nadin, spy on the movement and wait for an excuse to arrest its leaders. The Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth, is determined to suppress what they term 'radical' politics. When a disgruntled Londoner smashes the window of the Prince Regent's coach, Sidmouth uses this as a pretext for suspending habeas corpus.

Bamford and his friend Joseph Healey travel south to London to hear the famous activist Henry 'Orator' Hunt speak at a political meeting. Hunt has a reputation for vanity but Bamford persuades Manchester businessman Joseph Johnson to invite Hunt to address a mass meeting at St Peter's Fields; the Home Office discovers this invitation by intercepting Johnson's letter. Arriving at Manchester, Hunt goes into hiding in Johnson's home. Richards, a Home Office spy, is able to provoke Bagguley and fellow activists Drummond and Johnston into publicly calling for armed insurrection, leading to their arrest and imprisonment. The magistrates plan to disperse Hunt's meeting and make an example of the attendees using the local mounted militia, the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry and a regular army detachment led by General John Byng. Hunt remains certain that he can lead a peaceful rally and sidelines Bamford, when he warns of the likelihood of brutal treatment by the authorities.

On the day of the meeting, thousands of people walk into Manchester from the surrounding towns to hear Hunt speak at St Peter's Fields, including Nellie and Joshua and their family. Bamford leads a procession from Middleton but leaves in disgust on finding that it has been arranged that only Hunt will be allowed to address the crowd. A special committee of magistrates, chaired by Mr. Hulton has been assembled to break up the event. They appear to be in an upstairs room overlooking the gathering crowd. Norris, who urges restraint, is overruled. Byng has left his deputy in command of the soldiers, to attend a horse racing meet.

Once Hunt begins to speak, Reverend Ethelston instructs the crowd to disperse and reads them the Riot Act.

The crowd does not disperse and the Yeomanry cavalry assault the peaceful assembly with sabres drawn, while Hunt and Johnson are arrested by Nadin's men. The crowd are unable to escape the army and militia resulting in several people killed and many more injured. Joseph is wounded with a sabre and later dies. The attending reporters furiously return to their newspapers to expose this atrocity, coining a mocking name for it, "The Massacre of Peterloo". Despite the massacre, the Prince Regent sends his congratulations to the magistrates for suppressing 'radicalism' and restoring "tranquility".

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

Filming began in May 2017.[11] Production shot the interior of the Tarred Yarn Store in Plymouth, Devon, and the exterior of the Ropery at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent to double as a cotton mill in Manchester. St Mary's Marshes on the Isle of Grain also appears in a short scene at the beginning of the film, when a lonely figure is seen walking along the marshes.[12]

Much of the dialogue is in traditional Lancashire dialect. To achieve this, the director used the book The Dialects of South Lancashire, which was written by the same Samuel Bamford who is portrayed in the film.[13]

Reception[edit]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 66%, based on 161 reviews with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Peterloo proves writer-director Mike Leigh's populist anger remains undimmed – but that righteous fury occasionally overpowers the narrative."[14] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15] The New York Times called it a "brilliant and demanding film".[16]

The film obtained no BAFTA nominations and in this regard The Guardian’s critic noted: "Peterloo marks a rare failure for Film4".[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Peterloo". Venice International Film Festival 2018. Venice Biennale. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Peterloo (2018)". The Numbers. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  3. ^ Anderson, Ariston (25 July 2018). "Venice to Kick Off Awards Season With New Films From Coen Brothers, Luca Guadagnino and Alfonso Cuaron". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  4. ^ Vivarelli, Nick (25 July 2018). "Venice Film Festival Lineup: Heavy on Award Hopefuls, Netflix and Star Power". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Mike Leigh's Peterloo announced as first ever BFI London Film Festival premiere outside London". BFI. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. ^ Korsner, Jason (16 August 2018). "London Film Festival to premiere Mike Leigh's Peterloo drama – in Manchester". What's Worth Seeing... Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  7. ^ "'PETERLOO' Coming To Cinemas 2 November 2018". Filmoria.co.uk. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  8. ^ King, Ray (8 July 2017). "Mike Leigh starts shooting film about Peterloo massacre". I Love Manchester. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Peterloo first look: Mike Leigh's cudgel for a massacre - Sight & Sound". British Film Institute.
  10. ^ "Joseph Joins the Radicals in Stockport (1818)". Parson Harrison - Peterloo Reformer. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  11. ^ Thompson, Anne (17 May 2017). "Mike Leigh Starts Shooting 'Peterloo,' Amazon-backed Period Drama". IndieWire. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  12. ^ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Peterloo Article".
  13. ^ Schindel, Daniel (4 July 2019). "Mike Leigh on Why His New Film About an 1819 Massacre Feels Eerily Relevant Today". Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Peterloo (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Peterloo Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  16. ^ Scott, A. O. (4 April 2019). "'Peterloo' Review: Political Violence of the Past Mirrors the Present". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  17. ^ Catherine Shoard (9 January 2019). "Bafta nominations 2019: The Favourite is queen but Steve McQueen snubbed". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2019.

External links[edit]

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