Amazon.co.uk Review
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, this gripping drama by Ken Loach (Raining Stones) is set during the early days of the Irish Republican Army, when British occupation of the Irish radicalised many a citizen and caused some to take up arms. Cillian Murphy plays Damien, a medical student on his way to London when he witnesses a couple of atrocities committed by British troops. Instead of becoming a doctor, he turns into a leading and respected figure in an IRA division led by his brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney).
The film provides some fascinating historical insight into the nascent resistance movement as it was in 1920, and Loach brilliantly conveys the profound emotional transition young men had to make to become saboteurs and killers. Loach's realistic style is absolutely mesmerizing, with many scenes built around the dynamics of large groups: contentious meetings, torture sessions, battles, celebrations, and the like. One has the sense of history as a pool of energy, and one also develops a kind of Renoir-esque appreciation for the fact that different people on opposing sides of a life-or-death issue have their reasons for believing what they believe. As the story moves along, subtle shifts in the perspectives of men and women who had once agreed to be absolute in their fight for freedom results in a tragic yet understandable schism among Irish patriots. The final half-hour of The Wind That Shakes the Barley says a lot about how the Irish, including people who had known one another all their lives, turned their wrath on one another for so many decades. This is an outstanding film, featuring the best performance yet by Murphy (Red Eye). --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Emotional History.......2008-01-13
I am sure there are a number of details within this film that may not be completely accurate but the film does communicate well the difficulties for families within this period.
Tremendous.......2007-11-21
The Wind That Shakes The Barley is an interesting look at the early days of the IRA. Ken Loach's realistic style is perfect for an examination of this brutal conflict and the violence always seems terrifyingly real. The story of Damien and his family almost seems incidental at times but is ultimately very moving.
It is a true shame that movies like this have to be made out with the mainstream as they so often are so much more dramatic than the average Hollywood blockbuster.
A propaganda film with a predictable plot and weak acting.......2007-11-17
Many years ago, when I was a student, I saw a Soviet Russian film called, if memory serves right, The Happy Tractor Drivers of Kazakhstan. The film was set at harvest time, and at the climax, bronzed and beaming peasants brought in the wheat, singing as they did so. Everyone was sunny and blonde and blue-eyed, everyone was filled with almost inexpressible joy, and at the end, there was a paean of praise to Communism and the triumph of the Soviet system. Odd though it may seem, The Wind that Shakes the Barley reminded me very powerfully of that old Soviet film. It goes without saying that the IRA heroes of the film are very different from their Russian counterparts. Instead of being bright and sunny and happy, they are dark and miserable and wretched, and grumble a great deal about their plight under the unspeakably evil British. But the subtlety of characterization is almost identical in both films - the characters in both of them are cardboard cut-outs, and the acting in both is almost laughably wooden. Both films employ a desperately simple plot that is utterly predictable from start to finish, and both are tediously long. If you like unalloyed propaganda and hate the British, you will find this film irresistible. If you like blood-spattered brutality of the Sam Peckinpah variety, you will also find much to admire. But otherwise, unless you are a masochist, you would be best advised to pass it by.
A Fine Effort From the Director of the Working Class.......2007-11-11
Ken Loach relates to human suffering, passion,and humour with a an uncluttered honest view that at times is breathtaking in it's effect on the viewing public. Simply put, he tells it how it is.
Usually I avoid films that claim to depict "The Irish Question" but this film arrived with great kudos and fanfare and thus was a "must see."
It won the prestigeous Palme D'or in Cannes in 2006, and with good reason.
Set In Ireland in 1920, the moving tale of two brothers - the hotheaded Teddy and the quiet, dedicated Damien, a medical graduate - poised to set off to London University to enhance his skills - is the opening story of this film.
Teddy leads a local resistent movement against the British army and after seeing local people being butchered at the hands of the hated Black & Tans, Damien sets aside all plans to further his studies by joining his brother in the fight to make Ireland a republic.
The sense of sharing hard times,poverty,comradeship,is beautifully depicted here in true Loach fashion, and when finally the warring factions call a truce, Damien is overjoyed. It is over and he can get on with his plans for the future, his girlfriend, his medical career.
However, there are now two factions on the Irish side - one lead by Michael Collins, sign a treaty with England which annexed Northern Ireland. The terms of the treaty are still, to this day, argued over by people who saw the meaning of the treaty in totally different ways.
In effect the British believed the new Provisional Government to be a Crown appointed one, installed under Royal Perogative.
This caused a split in the ranks of the Republicans,and people who had grown up together, fought side by side - some even from the same family -
now find themselves at loggerheads at what was seen to be Collins' sellout
The tensions in The Wind That Shakes The Barley suddenly goes up a notch as Damien sides with the treaty and peace, whilst his brother and their comrades are decidely against it.
The gentle war weary Damien is portrayed superbly by Cillian Murphy, as is his love interest Sinead,by Orla Fitzgerald.
The ending is classic Loach, and the story of The Wind That Shakes In The Barley is one that will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.
A intersting heart breaking drama .......2007-10-11
I thought that this film was very intresting and thought provking.
The fact that the issues in this drama showed the beginning of the troubles in Ireland and how the two sides were created.
The first half an hour is very heavy going and I did think about pressing the stop button but I am glad I continued watching this drama. The acting was engaging and the characters seemed realistic the end of the drama is simply heart breaking and this is definatly a film that lingers in the memory days after the credits roll.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, this gripping drama by Ken Loach (Raining Stones) is set during the early days of the Irish Republican Army, when British occupation of the Irish radicalised many a citizen and caused some to take up arms. Cillian Murphy plays Damien, a medical student on his way to London when he witnesses a couple of atrocities committed by British troops. Instead of becoming a doctor, he turns into a leading and respected figure in an IRA division led by his brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney).
The film provides some fascinating historical insight into the nascent resistance movement as it was in 1920, and Loach brilliantly conveys the profound emotional transition young men had to make to become saboteurs and killers. Loach's realistic style is absolutely mesmerizing, with many scenes built around the dynamics of large groups: contentious meetings, torture sessions, battles, celebrations, and the like. One has the sense of history as a pool of energy, and one also develops a kind of Renoir-esque appreciation for the fact that different people on opposing sides of a life-or-death issue have their reasons for believing what they believe. As the story moves along, subtle shifts in the perspectives of men and women who had once agreed to be absolute in their fight for freedom results in a tragic yet understandable schism among Irish patriots. The final half-hour of The Wind That Shakes The Barley says a lot about how the Irish, including people who had known one another all their lives, turned their wrath on one another for so many decades. This is an outstanding film, featuring the best performance yet by Murphy (Red Eye). --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended........2008-03-01
This movie's central story is of two brothers on diverging political paths. Ken Loach presents us with a snap shot of the early days of the Irish freedom struggle in 1920 which casts forward the suggestion that any compromise with Britain is a betrayal.
As the British mercineries `Black and Tans' torture and murder their way through the Irish countryside two brothers (Cillian Murphy P.Delaney) are forced to join the IRA reluctantly.
As the story goes on Loach expertly shows us both sides of the conflict. He suggests that the British army were murderous in Ireland due to the 4 years of hell they suffered during WW1.
He also shows us the motives of the Irish IRA volunteers: "I studied Medicine for 5 years," says Cillian Murphy who puts aside dreams of becoming a doctor to fight for the cause. "Then I shoot a man; I hope that what we're fighting for is worth it."
This is Loach back to his Land and Freedom best; he is not the anti-Brit that some critics maintained. He is just playing his own brand of the patriot game.Highly recommended.
UK DVD:
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