The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

The 2006 recipient of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is Ken Loach's unflinching look at two brothers' involvement in the IRA during the time of the Irish War of Independence. Hearkening back to his excellent movie "Land and Freedom" of a decade earlier, Loach has again proven where his politics and his heart lie, that he is with and of the people.

Cillian Murphy gives a strong leading performance as Damien, a country bumpkin of the great pastoral Irish green, who is excited into arms by the ruthless encroachment of the British into his little town. Once a coward, now a patriot, he and his brother Teddy lead a resistance group of terrorists - though I doubt they would call themselves that - aimed at reclaiming Ireland for the Irish. National loyalties gallop into the forefront of everyone's mind and the divides run deep.

At times I felt lost while watching as I am not comfortably familiar with the events of the War or the surrounding politics, and this film did not make any sort of attempt to reveal the background of the conflict to the audience. I like that; I never like being treated as though I'm ignorant or need to have my hand held while going through a story. "Barley" dumps us right into the middle of the fighting, providing no preamble and it ends with no resolution. The story is not so much about the events of the war, but about personal resistance. Once we determine this it is far easier to fall into the film and enjoy it.

The IRA's struggle turns the fighting into a more personal, silent war full of assassinations and scare tactics issued to show the British that the everyman is proud of their democracy and their republic. It is a rather fragmented and hurried film, though the running time stretches over two hours, which made it difficult to connect to the characters or see cause and reaction developments take place. As handsomely shot though it may be, I found the overall picture to be rather hard to puzzle out.

I somehow question how much of the story we can accept to be truth. Loach is the master at making historical drama with a documentary feel to them, but I felt the political commitment of the filmmaker clearly affected how the British were presented. It is rare in modern movies that one side of a conflict is presented so harsh and one-dimentionally, the Brits constantly screaming and waving their guns about. Again, I have little knowledge of the War, but the violence seemed a bit too arbitrary and unfeeling. It may be that his argument is that war turns men into beasts, corrupting them with the power that comes from a weapon, but that is rather too bleak and naive a thesis to make.

Still, it is full of rosy glasses clinging to a way of life long since lost and leaves with the smells of the coming Great War hanging in the air. The factionalism, the senselessness, the conservative spirit grieving over the realization that their world is all but lost foreshadows bigger, louder, deadlier wars to come. "This is an important fight," the movie says, "listen to me."

A lack of an ultimate argument and a very unfulfilling conclusion left me underwhelmed, though there were plenty of moments of very strong moviemaking. Loach's cast gave it their all and their efforts were well noticed. I'm not sure if writer Paul Laverty, though, had a clear enough idea of what it was he wanted his audience to take away from this, so in the end I'm not taking away much of anything. There are plenty of small points to be discussed here and this film could have been about any one of them, but instead it tried to give a wash of everything without explaining concisely enough its greater significance.

2.5/4