★★★★☆
A martyr is just someone who happened to die in front of a desirable audience. This audience would consist of a record keeper or historian gifted in writing who can spin a person’s narrative to spark a passionate response from others inspired by the departed’s tale. But when that writer isn’t around is the deceased anything more than a corpse? This question is pondered in the opening sequence of Ken Loach’s 2006 film The Wind That Breaks the Barley when a 17-year old Irish boy refuses to speak “proper English” to the occupying English soldiers and is brutally beaten to death just meters away from his mother, siblings and fellow countrymen. As the English make their exit, talk of rebellion and retribution passes from the mouths of the Irish indicating the breaking point for these men who see no other option than to fight back.
Loach is presenting the conflict of 1920s Ireland with the British in the way he sees necessary. Make certain, this does not mean it is without bias; the first frame of the film of Irish boys mid-sport shows where Loach’s heart sides, which allows him to convey the war of independence as the uncompromising popular resistance that it was. A group of young men soon begin a sort of military training wielding the field-hockey sticks used just moments ago with the goal of defending their nation and it’s people from the savagery of English soldiers.
Considering the British Empire at one time nearly had control of all the known world it is no surprise a few enemies would rise from the ashes. Teddy O’Sullivan (Padraic Delaney) is one of the men who has had enough and organizes a small militia of his fellow Irishmen to join the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to take back their country from the British rule. His brother Damien (Cillian Murphy), a young doctor who would prefer to save lives rather than take them is hesitant to join Teddy, instead choosing to go to London to teach. His plans soon change following his witnessing of a train driver mercilessly beaten after refusing to transport English soldiers or weapons. Damien takes an oath to do whatever is necessary for the good of his fellow Irishmen and joins his brother on the field of battle.
This leads to one of the most interesting commentaries this film seems to make: What is the difference between resistance fighter and terrorist? Through Loach’s framing one must infer Teddy and Damien are resistance fighters gunning for national freedom. The guerrilla tactics used by them, hiding in the tall grass of the Irish countryside as a convoy of British soldiers drive unaware into an ambush are shown as a necessary evil to war. The scene is heightened even more when orders are given to not look the massacred British soldiers in the face, which would humanize the enemy.
On the other side of this question are the Black and Tans of the English military. Their use of excessive force is seen in a dramatically different light. Necessary evils are reduced to evils as they set fire to houses, inhumanly beat woman and children and use torture to extract information from their enemy. There is no doubt these people are employing a sort of terrorism understood to be used by despicable people. This sentiment is emphasised even more when the Tans proceed to further torment the family introduced at the beginning of the film when they killed the boy. Damien’s love interest Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald) is one of the women in the home who is ruthlessly dragged from the quarters and then mutilated; these atrocities happen in front of Damien, Teddy and the other men as they watch from a distance, forced to restrain themselves from letting their emotions get the better of them and expose their position.
Doing what is best for the nation and doing what is right is blurred even more after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The IRA is then split between those in favour of the treaty and those opposing it, in the case of this film Teddy on the side of those supporting the agreement and Damien leading those who believe that the treaty does not go far enough. It becomes a case where each brother is morally right in each of their decisions: Teddy sees it as a stepping stone to complete independence from the crown while Damien, the admittedly smarter of the two, knows that the treaty merely gives the illusion of freedom while simultaneously halting the progress their rebellion has had for the Irish people. Loach does well capturing this fission with a blinding white light that lingers in the background of nearly every scene. This terrific illumination is the mindset of the Irish whose mind is pure in their desire for independence yet doesn’t exactly have a sound plan once their goals may be achieved. Disputes over interest rates in a small community government displays the possible immaturity of a people whose dreams seem bigger than the effort needed to accomplish them.
Aside from the obvious bias in favour of the Irish, The Wind That Shakes the Barley has a sort of authenticity not often seen in other films of conflict and rebellion. Like many of Loach’s films he achieves this legitimacy by working with actors who are from Ireland where this particular conflict takes place. Cillian Murphy and Orla Fitzgerald are actually from Cork – where this film takes place – and although many may not be able to decipher a difference between a Cork accent and a Dublin accent – specifically thinking of Americans – it is this little nuance that leads to intrigue. Murphy and these actors are connected to this history, only two generations old, and the way they move through a scene it is clear they are aware of these surroundings long before shooting ever took place. As the camera pans over the callused green hills of the Cork countryside one cannot help but see the beauty that hides beneath the tall grass along side the resistance. It seems almost fitting an Englishmen would need to be the one to shed light on this vastly overlooked period of history.
Reviewer – David Rowley (@thedavidrowley)
Director – Ken Loach
Writer – Paul Laverty
Cast – Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham , Orla Fitzgerald
Buy The Wind That Shakes The Barley On DVD
A martyr is just someone who happened to die in front of a desirable audience. This audience would consist of a record keeper or historian gifted in writing who can spin a person’s narrative to spark a passionate response from others inspired by the departed’s tale. But when that writer isn’t around is the deceased anything more than a corpse? This question is pondered in the opening sequence of Ken Loach’s 2006 film The Wind That Breaks the Barley when a 17-year old Irish boy refuses to speak “proper English” to the occupying English soldiers and is brutally beaten to death just meters away from his mother, siblings and fellow countrymen. As the English make their exit, talk of rebellion and retribution passes from the mouths of the Irish indicating the breaking point for these men who see no other option than to fight back.
Loach is presenting the conflict of 1920s Ireland with the British in the way he sees necessary. Make certain, this does not mean it is without bias; the first frame of the film of Irish boys mid-sport shows where Loach’s heart sides, which allows him to convey the war of independence as the uncompromising popular resistance that it was. A group of young men soon begin a sort of military training wielding the field-hockey sticks used just moments ago with the goal of defending their nation and it’s people from the savagery of English soldiers.
Considering the British Empire at one time nearly had control of all the known world it is no surprise a few enemies would rise from the ashes. Teddy O’Sullivan (Padraic Delaney) is one of the men who has had enough and organizes a small militia of his fellow Irishmen to join the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to take back their country from the British rule. His brother Damien (Cillian Murphy), a young doctor who would prefer to save lives rather than take them is hesitant to join Teddy, instead choosing to go to London to teach. His plans soon change following his witnessing of a train driver mercilessly beaten after refusing to transport English soldiers or weapons. Damien takes an oath to do whatever is necessary for the good of his fellow Irishmen and joins his brother on the field of battle.
This leads to one of the most interesting commentaries this film seems to make: What is the difference between resistance fighter and terrorist? Through Loach’s framing one must infer Teddy and Damien are resistance fighters gunning for national freedom. The guerrilla tactics used by them, hiding in the tall grass of the Irish countryside as a convoy of British soldiers drive unaware into an ambush are shown as a necessary evil to war. The scene is heightened even more when orders are given to not look the massacred British soldiers in the face, which would humanize the enemy.
On the other side of this question are the Black and Tans of the English military. Their use of excessive force is seen in a dramatically different light. Necessary evils are reduced to evils as they set fire to houses, inhumanly beat woman and children and use torture to extract information from their enemy. There is no doubt these people are employing a sort of terrorism understood to be used by despicable people. This sentiment is emphasised even more when the Tans proceed to further torment the family introduced at the beginning of the film when they killed the boy. Damien’s love interest Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald) is one of the women in the home who is ruthlessly dragged from the quarters and then mutilated; these atrocities happen in front of Damien, Teddy and the other men as they watch from a distance, forced to restrain themselves from letting their emotions get the better of them and expose their position.
Doing what is best for the nation and doing what is right is blurred even more after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The IRA is then split between those in favour of the treaty and those opposing it, in the case of this film Teddy on the side of those supporting the agreement and Damien leading those who believe that the treaty does not go far enough. It becomes a case where each brother is morally right in each of their decisions: Teddy sees it as a stepping stone to complete independence from the crown while Damien, the admittedly smarter of the two, knows that the treaty merely gives the illusion of freedom while simultaneously halting the progress their rebellion has had for the Irish people. Loach does well capturing this fission with a blinding white light that lingers in the background of nearly every scene. This terrific illumination is the mindset of the Irish whose mind is pure in their desire for independence yet doesn’t exactly have a sound plan once their goals may be achieved. Disputes over interest rates in a small community government displays the possible immaturity of a people whose dreams seem bigger than the effort needed to accomplish them.
Aside from the obvious bias in favour of the Irish, The Wind That Shakes the Barley has a sort of authenticity not often seen in other films of conflict and rebellion. Like many of Loach’s films he achieves this legitimacy by working with actors who are from Ireland where this particular conflict takes place. Cillian Murphy and Orla Fitzgerald are actually from Cork – where this film takes place – and although many may not be able to decipher a difference between a Cork accent and a Dublin accent – specifically thinking of Americans – it is this little nuance that leads to intrigue. Murphy and these actors are connected to this history, only two generations old, and the way they move through a scene it is clear they are aware of these surroundings long before shooting ever took place. As the camera pans over the callused green hills of the Cork countryside one cannot help but see the beauty that hides beneath the tall grass along side the resistance. It seems almost fitting an Englishmen would need to be the one to shed light on this vastly overlooked period of history.
Reviewer – David Rowley (@thedavidrowley)
Director – Ken Loach
Writer – Paul Laverty
Cast – Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham , Orla Fitzgerald
Buy The Wind That Shakes The Barley On DVD
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