Peterloo (2018)

November 22, 2020 8:13 PM

An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter's Field in Manchester turned into one of the bloodiest and most notorious episodes in British history.

On Amazon Prime.

posted by latkes (1 comment total)

I resonated with Shonni Enelow's statement in their Film Comment review: "There are actually two films here: a well-observed but ultimately conventional drama that pits the arrogance and bad faith of the ruling class against the courage, competence, and organic intellectualism of the poor, and a fascinating, unsettled investigation of genres of political speech and action."

I did prefer the second film.. the parts that ambiguously explored what political speech is, what it does, what it means. I also preferred parts that showed the discomforts and class differences and strains between and among the protestors, and that's where Leigh's essence as a filmmaker came through: an incredible realism, almost outside of a realm of judgement, about what people do and why we do it, over the good vs. evil portrayal of the ruling class over everyone else. I also kept my eyes closed for a good portion of the massacre, which was pretty long. But I guess that was the topic of the movie.
posted by latkes at 8:27 PM on November 22, 2020 [1 favorite]