Tough Subject Well Tackled

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2006)

You know what... This wasn't near as sympathetic as i thought it would be... It focus' on a small segment of the IRA effort in the 20s. It doesn't show the English in a great light, but then, from the view of the characters, that is what happened... In my opinion it didn't really glorify the IRA. The film highlighted their reasons somewhat, but it showed how it was a pretty ugly & unforgiving force as well...
I feel the film tried to cram a lot into a short enough period of time. From the point of the Treaty on seemed somewhat rushed, and a bit sporadic compared to the earlier part of the film.
But once again, Loachs film has a superb natural script. Most of the acting was top notch, and there were a good few moments of comic relief within this very serious film. A more realistic portrayal than Michael Collins (that wouldn't take much), and definitely worth a watch.
A lot of journalists dismissed this as IRA romanticism, but really, they should have watched it first. It's not without flaws, but its probably as close to a truth as we will get in cinema. Its not like Loach made up these scenarios for scratch!