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Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Glasgow Film Theatre

2 – 8 November, 2018

Mike Leigh orchestrates a superb ensemble cast in this rousing tale of working class uprising and its violent suppression in Manchester in 1819. As shell-shocked soldiers return from the battle of Waterloo, they find their hometowns ravaged by a gentry upping food costs and ripping off the working classes. A peaceful march and assembly is arranged, where the star speaker will be radical orator Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear). As the day approaches the government grows nervous, while the people grow emboldened. Warm, funny and incendiary, this is a major work of cinema with huge contemporary relevance.

‘The film is being seen as a rallying call for political activism in a time when democracy is in crisis all over the world.’

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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. The massacre saw British government forces charge into a crowd of over 60,000 that had gathered to demand political reform and protest against rising levels of poverty. Many protestors were killed and hundreds more injured, sparking a nationwide outcry but also further government suppression. The Peterloo Massacre was a defining moment in British democracy which also played a significant role in the founding of The Guardian newspaper.

Mike Leigh’s powerful retelling of the #Peterloo massacre ‘needs to be heard right now’ – The Observer ★★★★★ – The Guardian. #Peterloo in cinemas from 2nd November.

www.peterloofilm.co.uk/

Trailer for Peterloo

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