Two Brothers Caught Up in Ireland's Struggle for Independence
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) is a powerful drama set during the Irish War of Independence and the almost-immediately-following Irish Civil War. The film was shot in the scenic countryside and picturesque small towns of County Cork. The story focuses on the involvement of the O'Donovan brothers, Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy (Padraic Delaney), in the tumultuous events of 1920-1922. The movie was directed by Ken Loach, who uses a realistic visual style and gets naturalistic performances from his actors.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley contains more politics than most films, resulting in characters having a substantial amount of expository dialogue. This sometimes feels didactic, weakening the human drama. However, the movie not only illuminates history, it helps us better understand the contemporary world, where there are still groups waging an uphill battle to assert their cultural identity, yet splitting into factions.
The film has a peculiar narrative structure and downbeat ending that are unsatisfying to some viewers. Also, watching it is hard to take at times because Loach refuses to romanticize his subject. There have been complaints that the movie portrays the British as being sadistic, and the Irish are shown engaging in brutal behavior as well. But the film isn't so much about how the British treated the Irish as it is about the prices paid by the Irish in struggling for independence. The movie raises thought-provoking issues, and for some of these there are no easy answers.
The Brothers Take Opposite Sides in the Civil War
The first two-thirds of The Wind That Shakes the Barley follows the O'Donovan brothers and their comrades-in-arms as they fight a guerilla war to gain Ireland's freedom from Britain. There's hardship and danger, and at one point Teddy is subjected to barbaric torture by the British. Later, Damien summarily executes a young Irishman he's known all his life. But Damien worries, "I hope this Ireland we're fighting for is worth it."
The Irish War of Independence ends in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and the movie shows the characters watching a newsreel that spells out the terms. The Emerald Isle is partitioned with the northern part under complete British control and the southern part becoming self-governing, although members of the new parliament are required to take an oath of allegiance to the British crown.
The film has a seven-minute sequence where characters heatedly argue about whether or not the Treaty is too much of a sellout. Despite the lack of consensus, supporters of the Treaty go ahead and form a new government. But many people are outraged, and soon the Irish Civil War erupts with anti-Treaty insurgents battling the forces of the newly established Irish Free State. The O'Donovan brothers end up on opposite sides in the war, leading to a tragic ending.
Who Was Michael Collins?
There are several references to the real-life historical figure of Michael Collins (1890-1922) in The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and he appears in archival newsreel footage inserted into the movie. The charismatic Collins played a crucial role in Ireland's struggle to become self-governing, and he built a reputation as a tireless fighter against the British. But after the Irish War of Independence dragged on for two-and-a-half years, Collins and others undertook the thorny task of meeting with British leaders to try to stop the bloodshed. The outcome was a negotiated settlement known as the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which was a problematic compromise.
Reaction to the Treaty in Ireland was mixed, with many reluctantly accepting it and many others bitterly opposing it. Some argued that Collins had gotten the best deal he could under the circumstances, but others believed he had sold out. In any case, the British military withdrew from southern Ireland, which became a new political entity called the Irish Free State with Collins as a key member of the government. But widespread discontent with the results of the Treaty soon boiled over, precipitating the Irish Civil War. When Collins went on an inspection tour in 1922, he was shot to death in an ambush in County Cork. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, his killers were anti-Treaty insurgents.
The movie Michael Collins (1996) is an entertaining biopic about the famous Irish hero. The film was written and directed by Neil Jordan, and the title character is played by Liam Neeson.
An Excellent Audio Commentary
The Wind That Shakes the Barley DVD provides an enlightening audio commentary by director Ken Loach, who is British, and University College Cork history professor Donal O'Driscoll. Loach briefly mentions some of the production details, but he and O'Driscoll spend the overwhelming majority of the time in a stimulating discussion of history and politics.
Loach and O'Driscoll explain about beginning the film with a game of hurling, a Gaelic version of field hockey associated with the Irish sense of identity. When the movie opens, the War of Independence is already underway, and the British have banned the sport because the Irish Republican Army made connections through hurling games and clubs.
The commentators also discuss the six-minute Irish courtroom sequence, which is based on an actual case. In the legal proceeding, an Irish businessman is found to be charging a peasant Irishwoman exorbitant interest and is ordered to repay her. But the IRA overrules the court: they don't want to alienate the businessman because they need his money to buy weapons.
Loach and O'Driscoll also talk about how extraordinarily difficult it was for individuals to make a judgment about the Anglo-Irish Treaty. According to them, the community leaders, the Catholic Church and the newspapers urged people to approve the Treaty. The Irish establishment generally favored the Treaty, and Loach claims that was at least partly because it preserved existing power relationships.
DVD Review Continues on the Next Page
