The Wind that Shakes the Barley

"This is a grand honour. Our film is a little step in the British confronting their imperialist history. Maybe if we tell the truth about the past we can tell the truth about the present."
Ken Loach, accepting the Palme D'Ór prize at the Cannes film festival 2006

"There is nothing like a Brit-bashing movie to angry up the blood but scratch the surface and you'll see that Loach's latest opus goes far deeper than your Michael Collins' or your Braveheart's as he makes a comment on every imperial country who invade smaller nations for their own ends."
entertainment.ie review, June 2nd 2006

"All films dealing with Irish republicans show them as tormented idealists who sometimes do things they shouldn't: the British
or unionists are portrayed as cynical, brutal and despicable (for example Loach's Hidden Agenda and Neil Jordan's Michael Collins). So Loach was doing nothing brave in taking a sympathetic look at republicans: he was being morally lazy."
Ruth Dudley Edwards, The Guardian, June 6th 2006

Ken Loach is not a man to keep his political views to himself. He used his Palme dÓr to acceptance speech to draw a parallel between events described in his film The Wind That Shakes The Barley and modern day Iraq. (George Monbiot has drawn a similar parallel.) In the link under the first quote above he is described as a supporter of George Galloway's Respect party. He has openly discussed Northern Ireland in terms even Sinn Fein spokespersons have more or less left behind.

Like Mick Fealty, I have severe doubts about whether any historically meritorious comparison can be drawn between Iraq today and Ireland in 1920-2. Indeed Niall Stanage is also correct to point out that the followers of the late al-Zarqawi in Iraq are, of course, expressly committed to destroying freedom and democracy, of the kind Ireland had pre- and post- the 1921 Treaty. In a sense, therefore, the goals of the two sets of insurgents are irreconcilable. My suspicion is that Monbiot's reasoning - and to the extent that it used such reasoning as a guide - Loach's film are more concerned with modern politics than anything else. As for Ruth Dudley Edwards' quote used above, there is no argument that Loach's film portrays the British officers and soldiers as monstrous individuals - all but irredeemable. At one point a British commander proclaims "My men fought in the Somme!" One feels a pang of sympathy for them in that moment, but any such sentiment is drowned out by what precedes and follows it in the film.

I found the narrative of The Wind That Shakes The Barley simplistic and predictable. I think Loach's political views informed and caused this. And I think the political narrative presented (expressly and implicitly) by the film is what won it the Palme dÓr. The reason I think that is because the film itself, taken on its merits as a cinematic production, is not an outstanding piece of work. It's not dreadful either. It has poignant moments, disturbing moments and some nice camerwork of the beautiful west Cork scenery. Cillian Murphy gives a decent performance. But in places the dialogue is painfully leaden (for example the dialoguea among the young men in the yard after Micheal is murdered by British soldiers), in others the turn of events is utterly predictable. Brother killing brother is too close to cliche as a description of civil war. Also, the entire film seems to drift in and out of acknowledging context.

In the end, my essential complaint about the film is expressed well in Darren Waters' review for the BBC, as follows:

"Paul Laverty's script is one-eyed, and unashamedly so. Loach and Laverty's aim is determinedly political - to show an occupied country which rises up to throw off the yoke of an invading army. It is a clear attempt to find resonance with events in Iraq, with the US in the role of the Empire clinging on to the past.
Such lack of balance, however, results in a one-dimensional script. The British are depicted as cardboard cut-out thugs and the motivation for the protagonists is delivered with a heavy hand when a lighter touch is needed."