The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Landing director Ken Loach a Palme D’Or at the 2006 Cannes film festival, The Wind That Shakes the Barley charts the IRA’s attempts to oust the British in the early 1920s and the civil war that followed the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.
The film opens in 1920 as newly-qualified doctor Damien O’Donovan (Cillian Murphey) abandons his plans to find work in a London hospital after he witnesses the brutal murder of his childhood friend by British Black and Tan troops. Along with his brother Teddy (Pádraic Delaney), Damian joins a “flying column” of the embryonic IRA, which exploits its superior knowledge of the Irish countryside to take pot shots at unsuspecting British troops. As the brothers’ zeal increases, so do their acts of violence, which include the shooting of unarmed British landlords and childhood friends who have aligned themselves with the occupying nation.
When the Free State comes in 1922 - allowing Ireland a degree of autonomy as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire - Damian’s idealism clashes with Teddy’s more pragmatic approach and the two brothers find themselves on opposing sides.
As befits a film dealing with civil war and terrorism, The Wind That Shakes the Barley is solemn in tone and weighty in its subject matter. The graphic nature of the film, which includes torture scenes, firing squads and brutal hangings, does not make for easy watching, particularly for British viewers who would rather turn a blind eye to the abuses of UK governments in the name of colonialism. However, Loach’s direct and uncompromising style is utterly absorbing, and encourages his audience to question the version of history passed down to them through fusty schoolmasters.
Whilst Loach’s sympathies clearly lie with the struggling but efficient republican guerrilla army, the film offers no endorsement of violence from either side of the conflict, nor does it seek to glamorise or ennoble the oppressed. However legitimate their grievances, by the end of the film the atrocities caused by the zealous Irish Republican Army become indistinguishable from those of their British oppressors.
As the Anglo-Irish treaty is announced and Teddy and Damien part ways politically, you would expect some emotional family clashes. However, despite the personal betrayals between members of a close-knit community, the film is strangely lacking in human drama. It is certainly difficult to identify with someone who would rather face the firing squad, leaving behind a grieving wife and baby, than give up the fight for independence.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley is an intelligent, engrossing and thought-provoking film with excellent performances from its two leads, as well as Orla Fitzgerald in her supporting role as Damien’s wife and a political activist in her own right.
