Freedom, peace, conflict, violence, politics, love

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2007)

"The Wind that Shakes the Barley" is the latest Ken Loach film which analyzes the Irish War for Independence through the eyes of a young doctor and his brother, both who join the Irish Republican Army in order to fight for freedom and peace, but who eventually split ideologies to represent the conflict over what such things as freedom, peace, conflict, violence, politics, and love mean to society. Such concepts are in the air right now, but Loach seems to be sincerely inquisitive about them.
This movie can easily be broken down into three parts. The first act uses violence and tension to create the exposition. The second act goes directly into the politics and dialog of the time. The third represents martyrdom and familial split. Of these parts, the third is the weakest, though but for the acting, which remains strong throughout. Cillian Murphy is a fantastic character actor who's gradually making himself known, and he's backed up by a stunning cast that doesn't do wrong.
Loach also takes great pleasure in filming the countryside and the beauty that these characters live in. In many films such as these the idea is to show via the land what these characters are truly fighting for, and in this film it's particularly effective, also relating itself to the title (which is from a poem recited early in the film). A particularly ingenious use of landscape involves Damien and Sinead walking leisurely out of a heart-shaped copse that foreshadows their later relationship. Use of a love-interest in this case isn't maudlin, but done in a nicely understated way.
--PolarisDiB