Great movie about Irish War of Independence

Rating: 8/10 (5 April 2007)

A movie about the Anglo-Irish war and the subsequent Irish Civil War told from a strongly pro-republican point of view. Cillian Murphy plays Damien, an apolitical Irish student, planning to become a doctor in London, who after witnessing the English brutal repression of Irish independence, decides to join his brother in the armed struggle to liberate Ireland from the English yoke. Director Ken Loach is certainly not among the most fluid of filmmakers, his movie is sometimes didactic, but is also consistently informative and interesting (it certainly lead me to look more information about this historical period on the Internet). The beautiful actress Orla Fitzgerald, playing Murphy's girlfriend, adds to the movie's appeal. The movie ends in a sad note: when the terms of the peace fails to conform the more belligerent Irish republicans (who particularly objected to the required oath to the King), the civil war erupts, and it ends up putting (literally) brother against brother. All in all, a highly recommended film.