The Wind That Shakes the Barley

To be shown: 1 October 2007

UK/Eire/Ger/Ita/Sp 2006
Director: Ken Loach.
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham.
121 mins. Cert 15.

Synopsis

1920: Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy) has just graduated from medical school and is leaving his small village in Ireland to work in London, much to the annoyance of his Irish loyalist brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney). As a result of witnessing atrocities at the hands of the Black and Tans (The British peacekeeping force mustered to support the Royal Irish Constabulary) Damien changes his plans and both brothers become freedom fighters with the local chapter of the original Irish Republican Army.

They continue to train and fight together until the formation of the Irish Free State, which as with many Republicans, causes a philosophical split. Teddy sees it as a victorious step to a truly free Ireland, while Damien continues to strive towards complete independence. The brothers in arms are soon brothers at arms.

This film continues Loach's exploration of political injustice and freedom fighters as seen in his 1995 Spanish Civil War piece Land and Freeedom and the 1996 Nicaraguan war story "Carla's Song". Loach can be described as purely polemical but the sensitivity with which he portrays often complex political situations, and the cinematography of what is often beautiful or haunting landscapes provides the audience with a lot more than just a sermon about the war in Iraq.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley received the Golden Palm award as Best Picture at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Notes

Ken Loach’s career spans nearly 50 years with directorial work in television on early Z Cars episodes (1962) and more famously with Cathy Come Home (1966). He has over 60 international gongs and 40 nominations including BAFTAs, Palme D’Ors and lifetime achievement awards. No Oscar’s though.

The Daily Mail verdict for this film: “Loach gets another bad case of the Trots”

Loach responded: “It’s all because they can’t stand the idea of the British Empire being questioned…We have a responsibility to attack the mistakes and brutalities of our own leaders, past and present…

…In spite of the suffering depicted, the fact still remains that the British marched out of Ireland. There is an element of hope in that.”

The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) under the First Dáil, the Irish parliament created in 1919 by a majority of Irish MPs. It lasted from January 1919 until the truce in July 1921.

The Irish Civil War (Irish: Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann) was a conflict between supporters and opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, which established the Irish Free State, precursor of today's Republic of Ireland. Opponents of the treaty objected to the fact that it retained constitutional links between the United Kingdom and Ireland and that the six counties of Northern Ireland would not be included in the Free State. The Civil War claimed more lives than the War of Independence that preceded it and left Irish society deeply divided. Its influence in Irish politics remains evident today.