As you probably already know, the Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester in August 1819 (the massacre was given the name ‘Peterloo’ in an ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier), when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 who had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation (15 people were killed and hundreds injured).
Although I was well aware of the Peterloo Massacre, somewhat shamefully, I knew comparatively little about its details and context (I was forced to drop History as a school subject in my second year – that’s my excuse!).
Leigh weaves multiple stories of everyday people to create an impressive historical epic that delivers a very sobering look at a 19th century moment that still resonates in the present, but there’s still part of me that rather agrees with Mary Beard’s recent comments about her dislike of ‘fictionalised history’ (with some details perhaps invented/embellished/slightly manipulated) but, nevertheless, the film is a remarkable achievement.
I’m a great fan of Mike Leigh and, yes, I know he can always be relied upon when it comes to pointing out cruel injustices waged against the working classes… but, frankly, thank goodness that we do have someone with his talent and in his position to do so!
In some ways, however, I have to say that I was slightly disappointed.
I think I’d expected it to have been concluded in something of a “what-lessons-can-we-all-learn-from-this?” big film ending, but that’s not the way Mike Leigh does things. I thought the film was slow and a little too long (just over two-and-a-half hours) – with some passages running on excessively for my taste and yet there were other sections where I would have liked more focus/greater depth. But the film is a veritable tour de force – with thousands of extras (no digital imagery for Mr Leigh!) and it tells a really important story about our crucial social history… and about the suffering of the poor families and labourers emerging utterly transformed and urbanised by new technology following the industrial revolution. The massacre was clearly a defining moment. In the Watershed’s programme notes, Leigh complains that whilst every school pupil is taught about Henry VIII’s six wives, the ‘Peterloo’ massacre is largely ignored. Interestingly (for me at least), according to Wikipedia, Peterloo is commemorated by a plaque close to the site - a replacement for an earlier one that was criticised as being inadequate as it did not reflect the scale of the massacre.
I learnt an awful lot from the film… about how the poor of the early 18th century were so mistreated; about the fact that most of them had no political voice or true representation; about how power and influence was reserved for the tiny privileged minority; and about how, to a large extent, these people abused their responsibilities within society. Some might say: “T’was ever thus”... and they might have a point.
Inevitably with Mike Leigh, the films makes political points for us today… in the early years of the c18th, people maddened with hunger because corn law tariffs had barred imports of cheap grain from the continent… and in 2018, our government is planning to stockpile food (and medicines) in the event of similar restrictions on trade.
The film’s about austerity. It’s dour. It’s about dissent. It’s about political agitation, oratory and challenge.
Maybe there aren’t that many differences between then and now... mass pro-democracy protest in Manchester, 1819 and the People’s Vote march in London, 2018? There’s certainly the same sense of anger and unfairness.
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