Having your heart and mind in the right place doesn't mean success

Rating: 5/10 (15 August 2009)

It's kind of ironic that a British filmmaker would direct a film about the Irish Revolution from the point of the Irish. And believe me, director Ken Loach doesn't seem to have any mixed feelings about his countrymen. The British in his film are portrayed as violent "thugs" who harass and kill Irish civilians as they please, and save for one of them, show no qualms about doing so. This makes it easy for the viewer to side with the Irish protagonists. Unfortunately, that's one of the very few things that the film does right.
Damien O'Donnell (Cillian Murphy) is a bright young man about to leave his native Ireland to go to Britain to become a doctor. But his countrymen are struggling against the British forces who are keeping the Irish in check, often violently. So Damien abandons his plans for a future and joins the Irish Republican Army to drive the British out.
Ken Loach's vision of the story, from a script by Paul Laverty, is unique. Loach uses a small Irish town as a representation of the whole of Ireland. This isn't a new way of telling a story like this; filmmakers often use characters as symbols of ideas. But Loach's approach is different. These are just ordinary people, not personifications. While that certainly opens the doors for interesting explorations of small-town viewpoints and personalities (something that Loach takes advantage of), it makes it seem like these characters were the only ones fighting the British (something that was obviously not the case). Then again, this is beside the point.
"The Wind That Shakes the Barley" does more things wrong than it does right, and that's a shame, because there are some interesting aspects of the film that I haven't seen before (certainly not by any American filmmaker). One of the most interesting things that the film does is look at how nationalism and revolution conflict with small town life. All the principal characters have known each other all their lives, but they're fighting a war where they grew up. If a person betrays you and some of your comrades die because of it, naturally one would want to exact punishment. But what if the traitor is the neighbor down the street who you played sports with and ate dinner with his family? While this conflict is approached and competently explored, that's really the only thing that works (other than the cinematography, which is gorgeous). Loach keeps the characters at an arms distance. That's not necessarily a bad thing (liking the characters is not a requirement of every film, although it is here), but development is. The viewer needs a way into the story, and while Loach tries to make Damien the entry point, it doesn't work. Not because it's hard to identify with a person like Damien, but because Damien is sketchily developed. We never get a sense of who he is, and that makes it hard to identify with him. And sad to say, Damien is the most developed character in the film (the majority of the characters are recognizable only because we've seen them before in earlier scenes--I didn't know the names of anyone besides Damien, his girlfriend Sinead, his brother Teddy, and a few other unimportant characters).
But the biggest problem with the film is that it's poorly focused. I think that Ken Loach got a little ahead of himself with this film. He wanted to give rise to a few ideas with the film. That's a good thing, but it doesn't work unless they are well integrated into the story. Loach doesn't accomplish that. For the most part, he tells the story, but some scenes he completely loses sight of the characters and has them play out to serve the points he wants to make. While he can get his ideas across, they lack any effect because they distance us even more from the characters. Halfway through the film I didn't care about anyone.
Cillian Murphy started his career as a villain, playing roles such as Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan's "Batman" movies and as Jackson Rippner in Wes Craven's non-horror thriller "Red Eye." With the role of Damien, Murphy is venturing into uncharted territory by playing a hero. Many actors do this, but Murphy has a disadvantage: he looks creepy to begin with. Surprisingly, his creepy facial features don't betray him in this role. Damien is a smart guy, but the way his countrymen are being treated at the hands of the British infuriates him, so he decides to fight back. After viewing his performance here, I think Murphy has considerable versatility, and I hope that he gets a chance to play some protagonist roles in the future. Orla Fitzgerald is also solid as Damien's lover, Sinead. She is in the same boat as everyone else, and it's obvious that she would be right beside them fighting if she weren't a woman (this takes place in the 1920's). Nevertheless, she does what she can to help the cause. Padriac Delaney is flat as Dan, however, although he doesn't play an important role until the final 20 minutes.
There are a few good things about "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," but ultimately its shortcomings turn a potentially powerful film into a long, often tedious, 2 hour slog.