Scenes from two other films/series come to mind: the "Remember My Forgotten Man" number at the end of Gold Diggers of 1933; and the "Jallianwala Bagh" mention in The Jewel in the Crown. In the former, we see the plight of World War I soldiers who return from their victory to unemployment and hunger. In the latter, Barbie Batchelor (played by Peggy Ashcroft), asks Mabel Layton (played by Fabia Drake) who Gillian is. Barbie heard Mabel mention her in her sleep. The confused Mabel realizes that what she has said in her sleep was Jallianwala, a reference to the terrible 1919 massacre of Indians by General Dyer and his men, who fired on the peaceful group, most of whom were attending a festival in an enclosure and could not escape. That event remains embedded in the psyche of Indians, particularly Sikhs, and even colored the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the region as late as 1997.
Peterloo opens at Waterloo, 1815. The battle is over. The Duke of Wellington is richly rewarded for the victory, while a soldier, played by David Moorst, wounded and hungry, returns home to the North of England. There are no jobs; his family and neighbors are hungry. Those who do work are paid a pittance for toiling in the mills. People begin to organize, for more rights, for suffrage, for representation in parliament. The rich of Manchester are callous and cruel. The Prince Regent, who rules in place of his mad father, George III, is a cruel, uncaring fop. Henry Hunt, a radical orator (brilliantly played by Rory Kinnear), is invited up from London to speak to the people in St. Peters Field, Manchester, in August 1819. 60,000 happy, laughing people come from the towns around Manchester with their children, to hear Hunt speak. Suddenly, the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry march in to arrest Hunt. They charge into the crowd, killing several, including women and children. Of the 60,000+ peaceful demonstrators, hundreds were wounded.
The horrendous massacre is quickly named for St. Peter's Field and the Battle of Waterloo: Peterloo. This film bears witness (and pretty accurately) to one of the most terrible events ever to take place on British soil. Definitely worth seeing. And you probably never heard of this because history is written by the winners.
