The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Director:

Ken Loach

Writer:

Paul Laverty (writer)

Release Date:

23 June 2006 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Winner of the PALME D'OR at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot:

A sympathetic look at Republicans in early 20th century Ireland, and two brothers who are torn apart by anti-Brit rebellion.

Plot Keywords:

Family Relationships | Prison | Independence | Interrogation | Pub

Awards:

5 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Cillian Murphy	...	Damien
Padraic Delaney	...	Teddy (as Pádraic Delaney)
Liam Cunningham	...	Dan
Orla Fitzgerald	...	Sinead
Mary O'Riordan	...	Peggy (as Mary Riordan)
Mary Murphy	...	Bernadette
Laurence Barry	...	Micheail
Damien Kearney	...	Finbar
Frank Bourke	...	Leo
Myles Horgan	...	Rory
Martin Lucey	...	Congo
Aidan O'Hare	...	Steady Boy
Shane Casey	...	Kevin
John Crean	...	Chris
Máirtín de Cógáin	...	Sean (as Mairtin de Cogain)

Also Known As:

Vent se lève, Le (France)
Vento che accarezza l'erba, Il (Italy)
Viento que agita la cebada, El (Spain)

Runtime:

UK:127 min

Country:

Ireland | UK | Germany | Italy | Spain | France

Language:

English | Irish Gaelic

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Not Rated | Germany:12 | Australia:M | France:U (with warning) | Ireland:15A | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Chile:14 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Ballyvorney, County Cork, Ireland

Company:

BIM Distribuzione

Trivia:

In the cinema scene, the man at the piano is really playing it. He's Neil Brand, one of Britain's leading silent cinema accompanists, who in 2006 featured significantly as a composer and accompanist in the BBC television series "Paul Merton's Silent Clowns".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the Train Station scene as Damien talks to the Driver, modern concrete markings for the visually impaired can be clearly seen along the platform edge.

Quotes:

Finbar: [the IRA have just gunned down several Black and Tans] Mercenaries! That were paid to come over here to make us crawl, and to wipe us out. We've just sent a message to the British cabinet that will echo and reverbarate around the world! If they bring their savagery over here, we will meet it with a savagery of our own!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-03-17)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Amhráin Na bhFiann

The truth hurts

Saw it at private screening too.

Editorial from a Cork newspaper sums it up well:

This wind shakes more than barley

In Ireland we are in rare position internationally when it comes to our media. Most of what we read, listen to and watch is usually interpreted in two perspectives, through our own media and through that of our near neighbours across the Irish Sea. There are other instances of large and small neighbours with a common language (Germany and Austria; USA and Canada; Australia and New Zealand), but nowhere is the penetration of the larger nation's media into the neighbouring market as pronounced as it is in Ireland. Viewership of UK TV stations and readership of UK owned newspapers in Ireland is at a level that makes them as significant to our view of the world as our own media. This breeds a familiarity with our neighbours that can make us Irish assume the British know as much about us as we do about them. Nothing could be further from the truth however as has been graphically illustrated by the reception given in Britain to Ken Loach's Palme d'or winning movie The Wind that Shakes the Barley. There is no question that this film makes the British forces look bad, but of course the reality as all Irish people know is that they were. In the UK normally reasonable and intelligent reviewers and commentators cannot cope with this depiction of occupying British forces as violent repressors of a largely defenceless native population. It has been described as unbalanced and portraying the valiant British soldiers in an unfair and unflattering light. The truth is that the vast majority of British citizens couldn't tell you where Galway is and why should they? They're ignorance of their own colonial past so close to home and denial of it shouldn't surprise us; it is not something to be proud of. This is not to attack Britain, but to remind Irish readers of UK newspapers and viewers of UK television that Britain is indeed a foreign country. They view the world through an entirely different perspective than us, and in truth our views are inconsequential to them. That's why Loach's film, which tells essential truths, will not get a general release in the UK. Despite the fact that Anglo-Irish relations are probably better now than they have ever been the truth about Britain's history in Ireland is something that they just aren't ready for, and probably never will be.