Glens stained with blood

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2007)

The Wind That Shakes The Barley- 2007, Directed by Ken Loach
It's probably best that the Cilian Murphy escaped infection ravaged England and came west to the rolling hills and emerald glens of his native land. The star of the Surprise hit "28 Days Later" choose wisely, avoiding the horror sequel and landing a strong staring role in The Wind that Shakes the Barely, the Winner of the Palme 'Or award at the 2007 Cannes film festival. It chronicles the lives of two young brothers and their growth into seasoned Irish Republican Army Veterans. The film opens with what is in reality a conclusion. The young men playing a form of field hockey in a flat patch of land beneath the craggy clifts and glens, which are to be the closing hours of their youth. The eldest brother Teddy (Padraic Delahney) has dug in his lot with the IRA, and has imerged a friery leader in the vein of a young Michael Collins. Damien (Cilian Murphy) is only days away from leaving his home for Medical school in London. Damien's boyish looks and gentile face disguise a steely and determined revolutionary. The English auxiliary force known as the Black and Tans ravage the house of a childhood friend, and alter the expected fates of both brothers. Every Irishman present is humiliated and forced to pronounce his name in perfect Queen's English, until a childhood friend Michael (Laurance Barry) refuses and is clubbed to death where he stands. At a crossroads, Damien re-affirms to his friends his future; in medicine. The title comes from a nationalist song of the same name by Robert Dwyer Joyce, " And join the bold united men, while soft winds shake the Barley". At his friends funeral this mournful ballad is sung by an older mourner. Damien departs for medical school. However fate won't let go of Damien as his heart is stirred again by an act of defiance. In the face of death the train driver refuses to transport British Soldiers and is badly beaten. Damien returns home to swear fidelity to the IRA. The film progresses through rigorous training, marching and builds a sense of Irish pride and patriotism among the community of men. As their leader Teddy suffers prison interrogation (think George Clooney in Syriana) his comrades in arms drown out his screams with homeland songs. Not long after a jailbreak, the IRA is strong enough to be taken seriously as political force. The Wind that Shakes the Barley could just as well be divided in half, as the Irish state soon will be as well. The War of Irish Independence soon gave way to the Irish Civil War which took twice as many lives. Here Teddy and Damien represent a divided nation. While they sought a full independent republic, they could negotiate only the Irish Free State. While the new state grants home rule on policing and economic policy and removes the British Army it also keeps Ireland officially under the crown and Britain fully retains Northern Ireland (Ulster). As the news is breaks across Ireland, soon former comrades are divided between pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions. Even in the pews of Catholic church, political friction abounds. It's often the representative of the old guard is the best position to negotiate and make the way towards sweeping change, and Teddy has grown from a bomb-thrower and fire-eater into a pragmatic politician. As Free State police captain now, he wants to build upon these gains at a later date. Damien remains the idealist, forsaking anything besides a full and united republic telling his brother to his face, "your wrapped in the union jack, that's the butcher's apron". Soon Damien and the Stalwarts come to see the pro-treaty Irish as a puppet extension of the British crown, at odds with Ireland's working classes. English socialist, Director Ken Loach who has chosen to shoot the characters together in the first half quickly delineates the two brothers separating their screen time as well as their political paths. Even the love of his future wife, Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald) at her feistiest cannot quell Damien's idealism or return the wild rover to his home. Damien must soon choose between the vision he has for a united Ireland or his life itself. There is a cruel irony in the two choices faced by the brothers. To fight on in a united, occupied Ireland still totally subject to the British, or work within a fractured country much more free yet rife with Irish fratricide. These ironies are not lost on the English director who wares his heart on his sleeve, making no apologies for the historical blood caked on his countryman's hands. Loach, teams up with screenwriter Paul Laverty in what is their deepest and most beautiful film together to date. Loach who directed the 1990 thriller Hidden Agenda takes an another look at the IRA. Yet with it's beautiful landscapes Barley has equal political resonance and is heartbreakingly beautiful to watch.