Uncomfortably good.

Rating: 8/10 (27 June 2006)

Predominantly I liked it, but I think that Loach was opening a can of worms (for the British viewers) dealing with that subject matter. The British don't like being portrayed as bastards, just like we don't like being portrayed as drunken Micks.
There's a lot of sentimental drivel in it, but whether that's down to the writing, the direction or just having to explain it in its basic form to the American market I can't decide. There's obviously a lot of improv going on in the court scenes around the development of the Civil War story, and this made me feel a bit uncomfortable because some of the lead characters fluff their words and are thus unconvincing. Maybe that's just the way Loach does his thing, but it sort of spoiled the mood for me. Maybe another few weeks in the cutting room would've helped.
But overall it's good. It was a bit of a refresher for me in the history department, because I didn't do history after I was 15 (neither today nor yesterday) and had forgotten the reasons for the Civil War. The movie emphasized the horribleness of that war with brothers fighting brothers and cousins fighting cousins. Very divisive.
Cillian Murphy was grand, albeit a bit fey. I liked Liam Cunningham a lot and Orla Fitzgerald, although I think she's a lot bigger that her token role.