The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Loach, 2006)

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006) uses characters of common Irish people to depict the beginnings of Ireland's war with itself. An issue this intense is often reduced in our minds to a political situation, that indirectly affects human beings, especially when it began over 100 years ago. Rather than it focusing on the political figures, like Neil Jordan's Michael Collins from ten years earlier, Barley deals with how this situation impacted the lives of Irish families.

The treaty splitting the two brothers, Damien and Teddy, shows how divided Ireland was and remains. The country is split down to its very core. Even two brothers, fighting for the same thing, end up against one another. The impact of seeing this is much stronger to the viewer, emotionally, than seeing what it was like in Dublin on the political front.

The relative absence of religion in this film is intriguing. There is only one major seen that involves religion at all, and it is when Damien argues with the priest at mass, and storms out of the church. Religion is a huge part of Irish life, as seen through cinema, that it is strange to see a film the nearly omits it. This may be an attempt to show that it is not a religious war being fought. It is a bit strange that it is Damien that storms out, because generally it is the Irish Republic that is associated with Catholicism, and the Loyalists that are associated with Protestantism. But, Teddy stays in the church, and Damien leaves.

The depiction of the British is a bit strange as well. They are completely demonized, which would make some sense, if Ken Loach wasn't English himself. The British soldiers are seen as always in the wrong, torturing and murdering innocent people. This may be the way the British see their history. They see that what their government did to the Irish was wrong.