As strong as "In the Name of the Father" and more subtle

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2010)

I have to confess, I was skeptic about the quality of this movie. So much publicity usually is an attempt to mask a failure. In this case the publicity is well deserved.
It's a drama and a story of treason. It depicts the context only to show that the new rulers are the same, turncoats as they get called by the end of the movie. I was shocked to have the same feeling as after reading Orwell's Animal Farm. And in a way it's the same story, only in a different context.
From a distance the first part looks like The Thin Red Line. Only that the impact is more violent. In The Thin Red Line the men are doomed, but behind them the families, "the civilization" goes on. In here there is no hope, there is no civilization and doom is spelled for all both young and all alike.
This movie is not perfect, yet a statement this bold deserves more than 10 stars. To be able to call the honorable Royal Army what it is, this alone is a sign of courage. To call both parties for what they are and avoid taking the comfort of one side, now this is something in the World of Today. And Mr. Loach goes even further, he goes against his audience. He takes away the sickening optimism and stupid Hollywood-style happy end to unmask the treason, to show the World the naked truth of armed conflicts.
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