Private Peaceful

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Private Peaceful

2012

1h 40m

Drama

War

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

63%

Tomatometer

27 Reviews

54%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

During World War I two brothers fall in love with the same woman as they contend with the pressures of family and war.

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Critics Consensus

Private Peaceful's deliberate pace will test the patience of many viewers, but its lush visuals and moving screenplay may offer sufficient compensation.

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Michael Rechtshaffen

Los Angeles Times

Oct 31, 2014

Melancholy runs deep in "Private Peaceful," a richly appointed British period piece about fraternal loyalty adapted from the book of the same name by "War Horse" author Michael Morpurgo.

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Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

Oct 30, 2014

A World War I fable that's as stiff as an Eton collar and as plodding as a draft horse.

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Joe Neumaier

New York Daily News

Oct 30, 2014

3/5

A long, long, trail a-winding, to be sure. But fans of PBS, history and a certain kind of old-fashioned moviemaking may fall in.

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Sep 6, 2019

2/5

Stuffed with haphazard writing.

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Russell Cook

CineVue

Feb 5, 2019

3/5

A delicate and warm portrayal of love for family, for friends, and for one's country, without the usual façade of over-exuberant jingoism

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Todd Jorgenson

Cinemalogue

Oct 31, 2014

It's an earnest interpretation of familiar themes.

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RockpaperGo T

@RT78030681 Dec 15, 2025

It was worse than the book by a mile.

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sergey b

@barsamyan Aug 5, 2022

The end of the films leaves the audience wishing for better, but the body of the film constitutes real cinematography - scenic, beautiful, humanistic. All actors play their roles very well, and one can see George MacKay developing in this film to become the great actor in "1917" 7 years later.

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Jun 17, 2020

I hate whoever made this movie... fuck you, fuck you, fuck you... you are a piece of shit... glorifying man's fucked up inhumanity to man with absolutely no hope of any positive resolution for future generations and no justice or respect for the lives of those who pay the price... fuck you!

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Dec 12, 2018

Offensively bad compared to the book. Also a very bad movie. This film feels simultaneously rushed and slow, and this is because the film tries to cram in moments from the book simply because they are in the book but not necessarily important to the story of the book. The result is a film where everything feels forced and a lot of the time silly. 1/10

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charlie l

@RT19434991 Nov 13, 2017

While some of the plot decisions are ridiculous, Private Peaceful still has something to say about the War itself.

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Jun 24, 2016

This is a TERRIBLE film, it could have been brilliant. I don't like the book either

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Synopsis

During World War I two brothers fall in love with the same woman as they contend with the pressures of family and war.

Director: Pat O'Connor
Producer: Simon Reade, Guy de Beaujeu, Sue de Beauvoir
Screenwriter: Simon Reade
Production Co: Fluidity Films
Genre: Drama, War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 7, 2017
Runtime: 1h 40m

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