Ken Loach is renowned for directing miserable and gritty, yet arguably essential heavyweight movies.
Set in 1920, around the years of the early formation of the IRA, The Wind That Shakes The Barley is saturated with brutish aggression, savagery and violence and is very difficult to watch.
Anyone that treats cinema as escapism should not see this film, as there are very few moments of hopefulness, or anything that breaks the drudgery of the bleak main plot.
While the issues raised are of historical importance, I feel there is too much reality, especially when Loach fails to say anything particularly fresh about the politics of the time.
The human angle is the story of two brothers, Damien (Cillian Murphy), a gentle doctor who doesn't want to get involved with politics, but, once embroiled, can't back out, because of his strong principles, and the older Teddy (Padraic Delaney), who ends up accepting the compromised peace treaty that the British government used to quell the insurgence.
This film will not help sooth the hearts of Irishmen still mourning their loss at the hands of the Black & Tans. More likely it will act as a rallying cry to die-hard terrorists.
3/5
