The Wind That Shakes the Barley (NR, 2007)

Director Ken Loach's THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY tells the story of two Irish brothers caught up in the beginnings of the IRA (Irish Republican Army). Medical student Damien (Cillian Murphy) and his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) watch in horror as British soldiers beat to death a friend who refuses to say his name in English instead of Gaelic. Damien abandons his studies, instead taking the Irish Republican Army's oath of loyalty. The film follows the young men's diligent training, heated discussions, and acts of violence, as well as their capture by the British forces. Damien, the most reluctant warrior, executes two informants; the ordeal leaves him scarred and angry -- he hates what he's become even though he believes in the cause of the Irish Free State. When he and his fellows begin to argue over tactics -- some believe their internal system of government too closely resembles the British one -- the group begins to fragment. The December 1921 signing of the Anglo-Irish peace treaty (which maintained Ireland as a dominion of the British Empire) breaks them apart completely. Teddy aligns himself with Michael Collins and the Loyalists (now "armed and uniformed by the British state") and Damien continues to fight. Ultimately, their split -- like that of their country -- leads to tragedy for both.

When Loach accepted the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, he said, "Maybe if we tell the truth about the past, we tell the truth about the present." This hope works in several ways in The Wind that Shakes the Barley. As it tells the story of two Irish brothers caught up in the beginnings of the IRA (Irish Republican Army), the film also shows the many costs of war and oppression for fighters on all sides. Viewers may well interpret it as an indictment of British colonialism -- as well an allegory for the United States' war in Iraq.