A Terrible Beauty is Born, magnificent work, and a true telling of the times.

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2006)

SPOILERS AHEAD The wind that shakes the barley is magnificent. There is no other word to describe it. It has been unfairly slaughtered by inept critics, who are obviously looking for critical possibilities to misrepresent and scandalise the subject matter. I have been on this forum since the very start, and have read a range of posters who have used various means to criticise, but in my opinion, the Palm D'or has justly been handed to ken Loach for making a beautiful movie.
Before the politics of the movie, let me speak of the acting, directing and feel of the movie. The acting is superb. Cillian Murphy and Padraig Delaney stand out along with Liam Cunningham as the pillars that the movie is built around. they ably convince and excel as portraying the harshness, rawness and anger felt by their characters. Cillians character Damien, is a fine romantic lead, the reluctant hero who grows into the epitome of strength that he never thought he could be. Teddy, plays the leader of the flying column who steps into the shoes of the dismissed British oppressors, aligning himself with the church and big business for what he perceives as the right direction of the New Ireland. Delaney's Dan, is a disciple of James Connolly, a socialist and union man. He believes all will be in vain if a socialist Ireland cannot be achieved. Fine, Fine, heart wrenching performances. Orla Fitzgerald and John Crean and Roger Allam, are convincing in pivotal roles. The dialogue is of the time, the accents impeccable. The script at times slow, but this is to allow for debate in scenes that dictate the politics of the time, and to allow for a balance within the film. The cinematography is spellbinding. The use of the landscape around west cork could be used in tourist film. breathtaking work by barry Ackroyd. The pace of the film is fine, the shootouts are bloody, blunt and unnerving, the violence short and vicious, as you would expect it was, one pivotal torture scene is handled with care to show brutality and resistance, loyalty and revenge, terror and horror all melting into each other tragically. Often Violence leads to greater violence, tit for tat, and tat for tit, leading to people questioning the validity of what they are doing, is it all worth it? all these questions and emotions are charged by loach, and seamlessly role the story along, with soft meanderings into the romance between Damian and Sinead. Excellent job done well by all concerned.
The politics of the film, have been represented as purely a socialist loaches preaching's, This is unfair, its much more complex then that. The film shows the splintered views of the Irish, united against the foreign invader. The colonial actions of the British are represented as violent, oppressive, racist and murderous. It is hard to disagree with this representation, as anyone who has studied history of the time will know. As long as the British are involved, then the united Irishmen will stand together, and die for each other to expel the foreign oppressor. Once the Brits are gone, then it is left to the main protagonists to help put it together, the great debate of the Treaty. There is always the sense of the strings being pulled from the outside, notes and telegrams from Dublin prompt the execution of friends, and tragically family. Once the British have been removed, the stories relevance shines. It shows the many faces of irishness. The simple farmhands and poor, who are still recovering from the Famine, and have nothing. They are easily led and cajoled into actions that lead to their doom. They are the true victims of the film. Some hold guns, obviously with no idea of what is happening. The poor Chris is one of the most tragic fellows of the film. The socialist Dan and his following of Connolly, quoting snippets of articles, constitution and speeches, seeing only a socialist Ireland as being the true successor to British rule. Damian, aligns himself with Dan, but he is more of a centralist who understand the role of business and church, but sees the freeing of Ireland as a way of throwing the shackles off the poor. When he sees the possibility of big business stepping into the role of the British occupier, he is both sickened and driven to fight on for justice and a land of equal opportunity, it iswhat he sees as the natural successor to British Rule. Teddy embraces the Treaty and sees it as the independence and the chance to copper fasten the Free State, and act as a stepping stone to a future united Ireland. The Normal man, who always makes up the majority, is happy enough to get the British out, and while cant stand the idea of the Treaty; it is harder for them to kill their own men, and as such walk out on both sides, happy to melt back into the communities and resume a level of normality. The Big business, who supply the powerful, but extract from the poor. The church that align to the powerful, but lecture and embrace the poor. All aspects of the New Ireland are represented. It is not an easy of clear solution that is coming or is portrayed, it is a freedom with a cost. The freedom that will drive brother to kill brother. Yeats coined the phrase, A Terrible Beauty, this film is a fleshing out of that phrase, it gives life to these immortal words, and as such, I can pay this film no greater tribute.