Mike Leigh’s “Peterloo,” about a notorious episode of political violence, is for most of its running time a riot of verbal eloquence. One of the characters, Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear), takes “Orator” ...

Unfortunately, there's more drama and excitement in this simple, factual description of the historical background of Peterloo—which also serves as its plot—than there is in the film itself. The good ...