''Private Peaceful'' is a 2012 British war drama film directed by Pat O'Connor and starring Jack O'Connell and George MacKay. It is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo (''né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as '' War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelli ...

. The film marks the final released performance of

Richard Griffiths Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play '' The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk ...

as well as his last credited film before his death the following year.

Plot

The tale is of a young man named Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who tells the story in account format from the past to the present day events of his experiences. His eldest brother, "Big Joe", has learning difficulties due to brain damage at birth, and is always looked out for by his younger brothers. The earlier part of the story tells of his life as a boy, before the Great War; the tale of his love for Molly – a beautiful girl he had a lot of feelings for and grew to love besottedly; and Charlie Peaceful, Tommo's brother who is older than him, but younger than Joe. Also early on in the story, Tommo and his dad go woodcutting where a tree nearly falls on Tommo. However, Tommo’s dad saves him but sadly in the process gets killed by the tree. Tommo kept it a secret that he was the reason his father is dead. The trio had grown up together; their mischievous adventures included braving the beastly "Grandma Wolf" (the boys' great-aunt – also referred to as the Wolfwoman), defying the Colonel and

skinny-dipping Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is '' skinny-dipping''. In both British and American English, to swim means "to move thro ...

, the latter leaving a large impression on Tommo. They had also seen an airplane together – the first people in their village to do so. Charlie, Molly and later Tommo all find jobs on the estate or in the village. Charlie, being older than Tommo, had always protected and looked out for his younger brother. Also, Charlie and Molly become closer as they are both older than Tommo, while Tommo begins to be left out. Tommo suspects that Charlie and Molly are in love. While they were skinny-dipping, Tommo notices them having a lot more fun together without him. Charlie and Molly used to secretly meet by the brook where it is revealed they kissed and had sex multiple times together. Molly becomes pregnant. She is thrown out of her house, and moves in with the Peacefuls. Tommo became extremely heartbroken after the couple rushed to get married a short time later in the village church before Tommo and Charlie go to France to fight in World War I. All through this time, Tommo recorded his feelings in the novel. The rest of the story describes the brothers' experiences of the war: their Sergeant "Horrible" Hanley, the near-misses during the battle on the front line, and Charlie's continued protection of Tommo. During a charge of the German lines, Charlie disobeys a direct order from Sergeant Hanley and stays with Tommo while he is injured on no-man's-land. As a result, Charlie is accused of cowardice and given a court-martial. At dawn, Charlie is marched before the firing squad, where he is executed. The story ends with Tommo preparing for the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

. In 2006, 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who (like Charlie) were executed for offenses including cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and sleeping at their posts were posthumously pardoned.

Cast

* Jack O'Connell as Charlie Peaceful **

Hero Fiennes-Tiffin Hero Beauregard Faulkner Fiennes Tiffin (born 6 November 1997) is an English actor, model and film producer. He is known for his starring role as Hardin Scott in the ''After'' film series. He portrayed 11-year-old Tom Riddle, the young versio ...

as Young Charlie * George MacKay as Tommo Peaceful **

Samuel Bottomley Samuel Bottomley (born 14 June 2001) is an English actor. He began acting at the age of nine, when he made his professional debut in the 2011 film ''Tyrannosaur''. After portraying Brandon Kelleher on the CBBC series ''Rocket's Island'', Bottoml ...

as Young Tommo *

Alexandra Roach Alexandra Elizabeth Roach (born 20 August 1987) is a Welsh actress best known for her roles as Becky in '' Utopia'' and DS Joy Freers in ''No Offence''. She has also made appearances in series including '' Being Human'', ''Inside No. 9'', ''Bla ...

as Molly Monks **

Izzy Meikle-Small Isobel "Izzy" Meikle-Small (born 22 March 1996) is a British actress who has appeared in various feature films and TV shows. Career Meikle-Small is best known for portraying young Kathy H. in the 2010 film '' Never Let Me Go''. She played the y ...

as Young Molly *

as The Colonel *

Frances de la Tour Frances J. de Lautour (born 30 July 1944), better known as Frances de la Tour, is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom '' Rising Damp'' from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and th ...

as Grandma Wolf * John Lynch as Sergeant Hanley *

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Mart ...

as Hazel Peaceful *

Stephen Kennedy Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

as James Peaceful *

Anna Carteret Anna Carteret (born 11 December 1942) is a British stage and screen actress. Biography Carteret was born as Annabelle S. Wilkinson on 11 December 1942 in Bangalore, British India, the daughter of Peter John Wilkinson and his wife Patricia Ca ...

as Colonel's Wife *

Eline Powell Eline Powell (born Eline Pauwels, 12 April 1990) is a Belgian actress best known for playing the title role on the American TV series '' Siren''. Early years and education Powell is the daughter of Belgian pharmacologist Rudi Pauwels and cli ...

as Anna

Reception

The film has a 63% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' gave the film three stars out of five.

Robbie Collin Robbie Collin is a British film critic. Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''. Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' gave the film two stars out of five. Rob Humanick of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

'' gave the film two and a half stars out of four.

References

External links

* * * {{Pat O'Connor 2012 films 2012 war drama films British war drama films British World War I films Films based on British novels Films set in Devon Films directed by Pat O'Connor Films scored by Rachel Portman 2012 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films