The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

My family came from Clonakilty and were directly involved in the events portrayed. The film struck an authentic note in portraying the young men and their fight. Of course the British forces were shown as monsters in the film as part of the mode of telling the tale, but growing up listening to the stories of the fighters, tales of atrocities did not feature.

The technical detail in the film was accurate and quite excellent and for that reason it may be of interest to point out three anomalies.

First: the men sung the present Irish National Anthem when they were held in the barracks and they sung it using Irish (Gaelic) words. In fact, the popular republican song which became the National Anthem was called The Soldiers' Song and the words were (of course)in English. They went:

Soldiers are we, Whose lives are pledged to Ireland, Some have come, From a land beyond the waves, Sworn to be free, Once more our ancient sire land, Etc

The Gaelic words were not written until ten or fifteen years later and were then promoted by Government as part of the fiction of Ireland being Gaelic speaking. When I was in school in the 1940's we learned the original English version and although nowadays the schools teach the Gaelic words, very few people retain them.

Second: after the men came in from the ambush they were fed at the farmhouse, eating from round bowls. I never saw such a dish in use in Ireland until people started going to Spain on their holidays in the 1960's. We used flat plated or flat-bottomed soup plates.

Third: When asked when he was leaving for England, the young doctor said "at the weekend". He would have said "on Saturday" or "on Sunday". The word "weekend" meaning a segment of time only arrived when the weekend became a defined segment of time. When small farmers worked a seven day week, they had no "weekends" and did not have a word for them in everyday usage.

My word for this film is 'evocative'and it with this sense that it should be watched.

Fmovies: I must say that this film should have aroused some emotional response in me at some level. Unfortunately, it did not. Throughout, it fails to establish the characters as people you care about and the climax of the film with the episode between the brothers ought to be very moving. Because no proper relationship is established between them throughout the film, the ending leaves the audience feeling nothing. Far too much time was spent on showing the brutality of the 'Black and Tans'. We quickly get the message that they were violent, abusive thugs within the first twenty minutes. The rest of the time could have been more usefully spent on developing character and focussing on the far more interesting premise of the division of opinion and consequent violence between the Irish themselves as a result of the treaty to form the Free State. Instead, we get an hour and a half of rabid, screaming thuggery from the British and about half an hour to look at a vast and far reaching aspect of Irish history in the fight that pits brother against brother. A conflict of such bitter brutality needs to be shown in its full horror and I'm afraid that the deaths looked more like something from a village hall play in the way that they were sanitised. (Not a drop of blood from anyone who is shot!). This could have been a wonderful film, the cast, authenticity of locations etc... seemed very good. Unfortunately, I felt that it was oddly cold and lacking in emotional involvement. It added nothing to my knowledge of Irish history of the period. I am not an apologist for British behaviour in Ireland over the centuries. I am the son of Irish migrants and was born/brought up in England. I do however feel that the time spent on showing how villainous the British were was way out of proportion and overshadowed what could have been a story of great courage and bravery played out against the odds.

Saw it at private screening too.

Editorial from a Cork newspaper sums it up well:

This wind shakes more than barley

In Ireland we are in rare position internationally when it comes to our media. Most of what we read, listen to and watch is usually interpreted in two perspectives, through our own media and through that of our near neighbours across the Irish Sea. There are other instances of large and small neighbours with a common language (Germany and Austria; USA and Canada; Australia and New Zealand), but nowhere is the penetration of the larger nation's media into the neighbouring market as pronounced as it is in Ireland. Viewership of UK TV stations and readership of UK owned newspapers in Ireland is at a level that makes them as significant to our view of the world as our own media. This breeds a familiarity with our neighbours that can make us Irish assume the British know as much about us as we do about them. Nothing could be further from the truth however as has been graphically illustrated by the reception given in Britain to Ken Loach's Palme d'or winning movie The Wind that Shakes the Barley. There is no question that this film makes the British forces look bad, but of course the reality as all Irish people know is that they were. In the UK normally reasonable and intelligent reviewers and commentators cannot cope with this depiction of occupying British forces as violent repressors of a largely defenceless native population. It has been described as unbalanced and portraying the valiant British soldiers in an unfair and unflattering light. The truth is that the vast majority of British citizens couldn't tell you where Galway is and why should they? They're ignorance of their own colonial past so close to home and denial of it shouldn't surprise us; it is not something to be proud of. This is not to attack Britain, but to remind Irish readers of UK newspapers and viewers of UK television that Britain is indeed a foreign country. They view the world through an entirely different perspective than us, and in truth our views are inconsequential to them. That's why Loach's film, which tells essential truths, will not get a general release in the UK. Despite the fact that Anglo-Irish relations are probably better now than they have ever been the truth about Britain's history in Ireland is something that they just aren't ready for, and probably never will be.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley fmovies. "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" is a fantastic film, and extremely apt given the current socio-economic climate in Ireland. We seem to be losing part of our heritage everyday, once again slave to foreign influences (both sides of the water) and willing to lose sight of our past to embrace the future. I left the cinema in Navan, Co Meath, wondering to myself "are we really as free as we think we are?". We have the highest debt ratio per capita of any country in the EU, a cost of living that is spiraling ridiculously out of control and criminals that make the Manson family look like the Partridge family. So what did we fight for in the rising of 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War? To be more like the British? The day of real patriotism is gone, it has been replaced by cash hungry capitalists willing to sell out in the name of progress. Back to the film! This was probably the first "war film" that I have seen that did not over step the mark in terms of taking sides. It was extremely objective and a credit to Ken Loach for the accuracy of his research and the depiction of the times. I would liken it, in some ways, to Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" as it was really devoid of any sustained periods of levity and stayed constantly true to its theme, unconcerned by commercial considerations. A masterpiece of film making and a credit to the superb cast, particularly Murphy and Cunningham. Film of the Decade so far

Another powerful movie from Ken Loach and a well deserved winner of the Palm D'or at Cannes. Some magical performances not only from the stars, but from the whole cast. I would urge you to find this film and go and see it. You will be educated, moved and it will leave you wanting to understand more.

From the start you feel as if you are in the 1920's and this feeling stays with you throughout. Obviously with a lower budget than most of the summers blockbusters, the film still manages to contain amazing action sequences and just has a wonderful atmosphere throughout.

Truly fantastic!

I saw this film at a private screening and found it difficult yet beautiful to watch. I have a personal history with the subject matter as I come from a family from both sides of the political divide in Ireland. A stigma that exists to this day but is reflected so profoundly with this film. Ken Loach's direction is crisp and perfect. The performances are, each and every one, incredibly believable and achingly visceral in the depiction of the conflicts of civil war. Cillian Murphy is wonderful and quite possibly the best Irish actor ever. Pádraic Delaney as his brother and enemy takes the role and makes it one of the best male performances I've seen. It is rare when a film allows you to understand both sides of a violent divide so clearly. The Wind that Shakes the Barley does this with blinding perfection. This film is a template for what film makers can achieve with a small budget, dedicated performers and a timeless topic.

Some who find this so provocative need to look further into their own loyalties to determine why the truth bothers them so much. Those who feel this to be Republican propaganda, ( and for you Americans I mean Irish Republican ), need, seriously, to investigate their own history. It doesn't surprise me that so many British people know nothing of their countries colonizing tactics in Ireland and elsewhere in the world. Six counties of Ireland still remain under British control. The sacrifices made 80 years ago still resonate today but the Republic of Ireland is now the third richest country in Europe. The question still debated is Was it Worth it? The question we ask is how's Scotland and Wales doing?