The revolution eats its own children

Rating: 7/10 (12 July 2009)

There are good entertaining films which you see, enjoy during the show and forget about it as soon as you leave the theater or switch off the TV. But there are films after the end you still munch over it and think a lot of relevant and irrelevant matters on the film. This film THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, which got the PALME D'OR award, is such a film which disturbs your mind and make you think about wars, revolutions etc. Somebody said "The revolution eats its own children". What Man envisages and follows a course it leads to unexpected results. Every revolution gets distorted in its later stages which turn comrades and brothers into enemies. The French revolution had its own terror after the revolution "succeeded". The French revolution did not succeed and the bourbons came back. The same is with Irish revolution which this film portrays. The same is with the Russian Revolution. That is why I think to some extent Gandhi's revolution avoided these pitfalls of an armed revolution. There was no terror after the revolution even though Gandhi himself was killed, not by his colleagues. I even try to visualize what would be the state of India if Subash Chandra Bose succeeded in his invasion of India for freedom with the help of Japanese. There is no doubt that Bose was a great patriot but was he right in his tactics. Had he succeeded first I wonder how he would have tackled the Japanese control – with another war? Again how he would have tackled his own colleagues who may differ from him in his policies and actions. With the arms and ammunition which are available in the country after the invasion would it have bring about a civil war? Would Bose have killed Gandhi and Nehru, of course with remorse like Teddy when he himself orders shooting of Damien or without remorse by LTTE leader Prabahakaran.
The very fact that such thoughts were going through my mind even after many hours is clear testament to the greatness of this film. Of course the brutality of both the British soldiers and the revolutionaries are stark and disturbing. The screen play is tight and direction is wonderful.