Genuinely one of the most amazing films I've ever seen. A costume drama, yes, but with an incredible technical and structural command and a raw, profound, unsentimental emotional core.

An excellent and thought-provoking film. Alex Norton is particularly outstanding in his various incidental roles, whether victim, aggressor or bystander.

A masterpiece !!! Really underrated

Saw most of this (didn't catch the beginning) on TV today. It's over three hours long. I generally liked it. It was educational for me as I was ignorant of the history behind it. However, that being said, I can't vouch for its accuracy. Based on the title and the main theme of worker's rights, I thought the story might eventually tie into the origins of socialism or even communism, but it seems to have been confined to the beginning of labor unions. All of that aside, what I liked about it was its insight into the life and times of ordinary country folk during the early 19th century England. What a hard life. People these days need to count their blessings. I won't complain anymore about having to use a "weed-eater" (string trimmer) for a few hours to clear out the weeds in our tea fields after seeing those folks working to exhaustion all day using scythes to clear huge fields only to go home filthy to hovel of a home to rest up for the next day. It's also interesting how they entertained themselves in those days, and the film does a good job of showing a variety of novelties of the day. The part about the guy going to a rich guy's house to accept charity in the form of the scraps of a single piece of a piece of chicken that the rich guy hadn't quite picked clean was just sad. However, for anyone who's seen the movie, I think the part with the dog is totally unnecessary and detracts from the film by making it a tad awkward to watch with others. All in all, as an anthropology major, I give it a thumbs up.

I'd love to see this film. Even more, to possess a copy. There's also a stage production derived from the same events, called "A Tolpuddle Man". It contains beautiful, stirring songs by Mick Ryan and Graham Moore. The show hasn't toured since the 1990s and deserves to be revived.

Thanks so much for posting.

George and James are my ancestors