British & Irish Films

Wild Rose and Yesterday: A Scottish singer seeks country music fame and a world without the Beatles

By Joanne Laurier, 22 July 2019

Two recent British-made films delve into the field of popular music. Works about such a subject can be a means of getting at social life from an unusual and unorthodox point of view.

Mike Leigh’s Peterloo: A drama of the British working class

By David Walsh, 5 April 2019

The opening of Peterloo in the US this week and next is an event of some importance. The film was inspired by important ideas and created with great seriousness and artistry.

An interview with Mike Leigh, director of Peterloo: “You don’t run out of steam if what you do…is to literally hold the mirror up to nature”

By David Walsh, 5 April 2019

The WSWS spoke to British filmmaker Mike Leigh during the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018.

Film Review

“Grenfell changed everything”—Failed by the State: The Struggle in the Shadow of Grenfell

By Paul Bond, 14 December 2017

A new three-part documentary shows how the Grenfell Tower inferno exposed the realities of class oppression and social inequality in the most brutal way.