Peterloo - The Movie.

I have just watched the movie Peterloo on Amazon. It was a powerful film based on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 in Manchester. It made me angry with the powerful ruling classes of the land. 

It was a hard-hitting film showing the watcher the build-up that led to the events. I had heard of the young soldier that was at Waterloo in 1815. The young man that fought for King and country. The opening shots show the young man at the famous 1815 battle. Then we go to the opening sequence of the discharged soldier walking home to Manchester in England. We see all through the eyes of his loving family struggling against the harsh ways of the industrial revolution. This young man from Waterloo is not even given the price of transport for a journey back to Manchester while the Duke of Wellington is awarded £750,000 as a reward for his part in the battle. This young soldier's character is fictional, but he is an image of an actual soldier that was at Peterloo four years after Wellington's Grand Battle. His real name was John Lees and he was from Oldham.

I do not think the movie was appreciated too much at the box office. I do not know why, because I found it very moving. I knew something about the historical significance of the Peterloo event. There were 15 people killed including a mother and baby. (To be honest, I thought there were larger numbers) But this does not diminish the viciousness of the dreadful event. There were a further 700 injuries during the panic as the various military units waded in against the 80,000 peaceful protesters.

The film had some splendid actors with Maxine Peake, Rory Kinnear, David Bamber and many more. The problem is, I liked the movie and thought it was well presented. But I found it so angrily moving. It was too powerful in some parts. Especially, the ending. I was almost spitting razor blades.

It made my blood boil at the thought of the Yeomanry getting away with this. I wonder if it will happen again one day? I think many of our political classes would be capable of doing such a thing. During the story, we are also shown the corridors of power. Here were men with complete conviction of their own vanity. Their diabolical view of the plebiscite was extreme and very barbaric. Such vile and wicked people! The real rogues of the nation in all their finery.