Another film based on a Morpurgo novel,War Horse being the other,and like that film it's an exercise in emotional button pushing for the generation who are likely to know sod all about the history on which the work is based.It's laying on 21st century attitudes and morality to events which occurred 100 years ago when the world was very different.Yes it was terrible by our standards that deserters were shot and that poor defenceless horses were killed,but it's infinitely more horrifying that a huge portion of a generation who didn't run away, died or were maimed..The film is the cinematic equivalent of the kind of "ooh wasn't this terrible?" documentaries which infest the lesser Free To Air TV channels here in the UK.And by the way I'm by political persuasion a Lefty.The film making is OK.The story of the brothers growing up in a rural village in Devon is fine and Alexandra Roach has the bonniest smile on British TV.It's when the lads join up that it pumps out the clichés like a Lewis gun.Watch "For King And Country" for a good depiction of a soldier on trial for desertion and perhaps " Journey's End" for life in the front line(the 1970's version is really good".

Based on Michael Morpurgo's book, 'Private Peaceful' has garnered inevitable comparisons with Spielberg's 'War Horse' (to me a superior film, which is probably not going to be a popular opinion). On its own merits, it's a decent but not great film that does a lot right but somewhat too vanilla.Starting with the strengths of 'Private Peaceful', while not lavish it's very nicely shot in its own low-key way and even more expertly done is the contrast of the rustic charm of the early life scenes with the harrowing griminess of the war scenes. Rachel Portman's score is lushly orchestrated and understated without being over-sentimentalised.'Private Peaceful' may have a lot of familiar elements, but the relationship with their father, the sibling love rivalry and feuding with their sergeant are done competently enough, if very familiar elements done to much stronger effect elsewhere. The story is compelling and moving enough, everything about the film is well-intended and the direction is solid.The acting is what comes off best, or at least most of it. George MacKay and Jack O'Connell are very good as the brothers with a very natural bond between them, and they are well matched by a charming Alexandra Roach as well as tortured and gruff John Lynch, affecting Maxine Peake and blustering Richard Griffiths.Not everything comes off well. The dialogue can be stilted and awkward in flow, with too much signposting and melodrama in the early scenes. The child performances also don't come off naturally and are actually pretty amateurish, particularly for young Charlie.A little too much of the film is cliché ridden and sadly this would not have mattered if it wasn't so vanilla, meaning it's all there but with not much spark. Lastly, the ending is far too abrupt and too much of a head-scratcher.In summary, well done but bland. 6/10 Bethany Cox

The Movie is a brilliant capturing of the true problems and hardship in the times of World War 1, it captures the brilliant realism of the war and followed the life of a young man and his brother who befriend this girl who they both are great friends with, Tommo loves this girl very much, only for his brother Charlie to have captured her heart more.This is a sad story and truly shows the great hardship that families had to with-stand during world war 1, Over all this is a great Movie and it should be certain you watch this.This is very well portrayed from the novel- version and follows a struggling family from England during World War 1 in a small town in Iddlesbreigh who struggle with a elderly brother who has special-needs and has a fatal accident, when there father is killed, when a tree crushes him.It's very sad a does show you the true realism of World War 1

A beautiful portrayal of love and loyalty, this film gives a convincing insight into the lives at home and at war of young men in the First War. Key relationships are poignantly rendered, firstly between cocksure Charlie Peaceful and his sensitive and introspective brother Tommo. Their relationship with their father is particularly moving as well, as is their mutual love for their friend Molly. One thing that stands out for me is the authenticity of the film's portrayal of their acceptance of each other, of one sibling's 'conquest' of Molly, and of the relative poverty of their situation as fatherless farm-boys - although the outbursts of politicised rebellion in this respect are also convincing, if not when blurted out to the landowner who is bizarrely drinking in the public bar with the lads. This is indeed one of several anachronisms in the film (along with unrealistic woodcutting of the forester and the strangely silent field hospital), but these do not undermine what is otherwise a deeply moving portrayal of an everyday tragedy.