Stream It or Skip It: ‘Peterloo’ on Prime Video, Mike Leigh’s Ambitious Depiction of a Tragic Massacre

Mike Leigh’s historical drama Peterloo, now on Amazon Prime, debuts to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, one of the most brutal events in the history of Manchester, England. It’s a sprawling ensemble piece culminating in a complex climactic action sequence — and it’s a step outside the norm for Leigh, whose Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake and Secrets and Lies established him as a master of intimate character dramas.

PETERLOO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Joseph (David Moorst), a humble bugler in the British Army, staggers through fields of carnage during the Battle of Waterloo, which marked the defeat of Napoleon and the end of 20 years of war in Europe. He’s twitchy and shellshocked, a state that sticks with him as he limps home to Manchester and falls into the arms of his mother, Nellie (Maxine Peake). She hustles pies for a penny apiece in the marketplace, and his father, Joshua (Pearce Quigley), works in a textile factory. In their dimly lit hovel, they hunch over their meager broth and grumble, righteously and intelligently, about the state of things: they’re being taxed nearly to death; a corn tariff has made food exponentially expensive; they have little representation in Parliament, and desire suffrage.

In the bright chambers of the wealthy class, white-haired men gift the Duke of Wellington, a war hero at Waterloo, three-quarters of a million pounds, which, being a duke, he probably doesn’t need. Grandstanding magistrates dole out ludicrous sentences to grubby working-class people for minuscule crimes. Tax-mongers sit around tables, sipping fine spirits and flexing their flab, siccing spies on gatherings of reformers wearing grubby bonnets and sucking on corncob pipes. And just when all the cock-strutting of the bloated and cretinous rich seems to hit its apex, we get shots of the vile Prince Regent, a diaphoretic hog crossbred with a grotesque peacock and pancake-painted like an aristocratic clown, lard flowing through his veins, decreeing this and that from atop a pile of gilded skulls.

Is it any wonder unrest was brewing daily like 3 p.m. tea? A forlorn woman with blotchy skin and holes in her bonnet sits on a stoop, singing the wretched plight of the weavers; the magistrates bang on loudly about their self-proclaimed status as society’s moral superiors. If it doesn’t seem explicitly obvious already, Leigh sharply renders the contrast between the have-everythings and the have-nothings, slowly building to the gathering of more than 60,000 citizens, who came to see radical reformer Henry Hunt’s (Rory Kinnear) speech — and to the inevitable violence.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s the sprawl of Gosford Park (minus the depth of character) meets the period political wrangling of Lincoln (minus the understatement) meets Suffragette (minus about 80 percent of the women).

Performance Worth Watching: It’s tempting to point out Vincent Franklin’s portrayal of Magistrate Rev Ethelston as a highlight for its bulge-eyed, slab-of-ham, overindulgent scenery consumption. But Peake’s take on a concerned mother is true, nuanced character work, a grim-faced performance softened by a few quiet inklings of hope for her grandchild’s future.

Memorable Dialogue: “YOU, SIR, ARE A BLAGGARD!” bellows one of the magistrates — let’s call him Sir Harrumphsalot — at Hunt, and it’s not precisely the words that are quotable, but the spittle-flinging manner in which they’re blustered.

Single Best Shot: The camera zooms out as a couple dozen scrappy idealist reformers, bearing sticks and wooden pitchforks practice marching in formation in a gorgeous, hilly piece of green English countryside.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Can the gulf between classes be overstated? Leigh suggests it can’t. From the pitiful bugle boy to the putrid prince, the filmmaker employs enough exaggeration to skirt the fringe of satire. The film is either slyly or unintentionally comic, I’m not sure which — and this seems at odds with the sober subject matter.

But Leigh loves interesting faces, and heavily stocks the production with character actors enjoying colorful flourishes in a narrative which, if you’ll pardon my phraseology, overtaxes us with long speeches laden with exposition. The film’s historical detail is impressive — as is the masterfully shot and edited massacre sequence — but it ultimately bullseyes basic emotions by stirring up empathy for the poor and great contempt for the rich and powerful.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Peterloo is flawed but ambitious, visually impressive, immersive in its detail. The first two hours are an occasional slog, but the final 30 minutes offers some truly righteous filmmaking.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Peterloo on Prime Video