The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Ken Loach provides a fascinating look at the Irish War for Independence and resultant strife in The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006). A bit disjointed and cliched at times, it's nonetheless a very perceptive portrayal of a revolution whose imperfect victory sowed the seeds of a conflict lasting to the present day.

Ireland, 1920. Damien (Cillian Murphy), an ambitious medical student, witnesses the murder of a friend (Laurence Barry) by British soldiers. Along with his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney), train driver Dan (Liam Cunningham) and various others, he joins the Irish Republican Army and wages a guerilla war against the Brits. Surviving imprisonment, torture, various skirmishes and retaliations by the brutish "Black and Tans," Damien and Teddy drift apart after the war ends, when a peace treaty gives the Irish only limited independence. Damien and Teddy find themselves on opposing sides as the Irish Free State collapses into bloody civil war.

Perhaps you haven't noticed, but this blogger is fascinated with political revolutions and their impure fruit. For all their idealism and talk of reform, virtually all revolutions turn around on themselves, leading to violence, chaos and repression resuming under a new ideological banner. Bourbon France and Romanov Russia were certainly bad, but the monsters who replaced them were exponentially worse. Reality, with its inherent compromises and crabbing, rarely lives up to the purity of ideals, and those who won't accept this incite more bloodshed.

The Irish War for Independence depicted in The Wind That Shakes the Barley exemplifies this. The initial rebellion is clear-cut, with the brutish Black and Tans a hateful, unsympathetic enemy; any remorse our protagonists have over killing them is assuaged by the death of their friend, their torture in captivity, and the harassment of love interest Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald). When Sinn Fein settles for an imperfect victory, with limited independence and a religiously-based partition, the lines gray: the ideologue's demand for purity clashes with enforcers of the impure peace, and war inevitably resumes. The British wash their hands of the mess, as the Irish turn to killing each other, but the open wound left by the Anglo-Irish Treaty festers on, with tragic consequences for all.

Ken Loach's direction is excellent: the film bristles with well-staged action, powerful set-pieces, perfect period detail and gorgeous, vibrant cinematography by Barry Ackroyd. George Fenton's subtly emotive score also deserves a mention. The film's main flaw is its pacing; the film often drags, while rushing through other segments, particularly the post-independence sequences. The opposition of brothers is a set-up for easy tragedy, but the film pulls it off well-enough, with Damien's ideological hardening off-set perfectly by Teddy's increasing moderation.

Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins) gives a powerful performance, effectively showing Damien's hardening from disinterested dilettante to hardcore revolutionary. Liam Cunningham (First Knight) is excellent as the gang's conscience, and Padraic Delainey (The Tudors) is immensely sympathetic and tortured. Roger Allam (V for Vendetta) shines as a hateful English bastard, and a cast of unknowns - Orla Fitzgerald, Mary O'Riordan, Frank Bourke, Myles Horgan - provides fine support.

Despite its imperfections, The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a wonderful mixture of insightful art and gripping entertainment. Save In the Name of the Father, it's perhaps the best film ever made on the Irish "Troubles."