Starring: Cillian Murphy; Padraic Delaney; Orla Fitzgerald
Director: Ken Loach
Ebert's Review- 4 Stars
Leo's Review- 3 Stars
Every now and then my girlfriend Christina, a group of friends, and myself will all get together for food, drinks, and a movie for what we call the LC MOVIE CLUB! The movie is chosen by one person in the group; we get together, watch the movie, and then give our opinions on it. Pretty simple.
Last week’s movie-chosen by my best friend Patrick- was "The Wind That Shakes the Barley". The film is a history lesson on the uprising and battle between the IRA and the British army. The movie has a collection of all Irish actors that allow you as the viewer to feel and have a sense of what it may have been like to have lived in Ireland 1920. Beneath that story is the tale of two brothers who are forced into fighting the destruction and mistreatment by the British government. But ultimately battling each other.
We see all the men of the town engaged in a fine display of hurling (a game like field hockey) in our first scene. Running around, sweating; hacking at each other, as some may say "boys being boys"! After they are finished playing we see the "Black and Tans", a group of British Army soldiers alerting them that any form of "gathering" or "meeting" is illegal to British law. And so ensues the beating and killing of one friend and so shows the display that there is oppression that the Irish feel is unjust and has to be stopped.
Ebert himself did not write a review for this movie, (which is another topic for another blog) his editor Jim Emerson wrote the review and put his thought on the movie quite nicely stating, "You don't have to know about the history of "the troubles" in Northern Ireland to be swept up in the human drama of Ken Loach's "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," which won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival."
The movie has a great collection of actors with Cillian Murphy as the lead role of Damien. His brother, Teddy, is played by Padraic Delaney as the passionate leader who would go through a brick wall for freedom. Human drama is entirely what this movie is about. Families, friends, loved ones, all put in the middle of mistreatment and crisis. Even if you had never heard about anything like IRA or "Black and Tans", you still would be sucked in by the conflicts and why the people in this film fight for what they believe in.
There are beautiful shots of the Ireland country side, and a perfectly realistic creation of what life was like in Ireland in the 1920's. The main focus is Damien, who was ready to leave for college to become a doctor and then is forced back into defending his Irish people/friends. It is Damien who is in the middle of this tug-of-war between the passion his brother has for defending Ireland and the mistreatment by the British government. During this, the people of Ireland are poor, sick, and dying of starvation. All of this is a collection of how hard it is for Damien and something he probably never could have run from.
Emerson gives the movie 4 stars and there is a legitimate argument for the movie getting that many stars. I only gave it 3 for a few reasons. The Irish accents are very thick and make it difficult for you to hear, which does not mean that it was bad; I just know it made it tougher on me. It actually is very authentic. Also, the movie has some slow moments. Moments that could have been accelerated with more scenes of violence and displays of bloodshed. I felt this would have made you as the viewer really feel the pain and suffering the Irish were going through during this time. This makes it sound like I am knit picking things. Overall though this is a very good movie. Very real and well directed. What I would consider a must see!
3 STARS!
Please read Roger's review @ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070405/REVIEWS/70406001
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