Brilliant film about the Irish revolution and civil war

Rating: 9/10 (2 September 2019)

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) was directed by Ken Loach.
Cillian Murphy portrays Damien, a young physician who is drawn into the Irish revolution and, later, the civil war. Orla Fitzgerald plays Sinead, a young woman who works with the rebels and is in love with Damien. Damien loves her as well, but nothing can be certain in a war zone.
Director Loach portrays the situation on the ground very well. We believe in the cruelty of the British soldiers and the determination of the rebels. We see scenes of fighting that look all too real. However, Loach assumes that we have a certain amount of knowledge about the earlier rebellion in 1916, the dock strike, and the pros and cons of the treaty with England. Most of us in the U.S. don't have that knowledge.
If you're going to watch the movie, I would suggest picking up some basic information about Irish history from 1916 to 1923. That's what I did, and it was worth the effort.
We saw the film on the small screen. It would work better in a theater, but it worked well enough on DVD. The movie has a strong IMDb rating of 7.5. I think it's even better than that.
P.S. The great Irish traditional singer Peggy Lynch sings the title song during a wake for a slain revolutionary. She's wonderful.