acoolsha
General entries
The Wind That Shakes the Barley 24 January 08
Section: article
Categories: Film / dvd
This was one of the simplest and most affecting films I have ever seen.
The film shows with clear partisanship a perspective of factual circumstances surrounding the fight against British rule in Ireland and the establishment of the Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic/Assembly of Ireland) between the years 1919 and 1922.
It is wrenching and heroic; the film is made in heavily accented Irish English, and some Irish as well. My impression is that much of the cast consisted of lay actors, which lends a beautiful quality to many scenes: authentic people clearly moving and speaking according to directions given, not slick acting in the service of flat illusions.
Its portrayal of the brute dynamics of British oppression reminded me of the more complex film Burn!, with Marlon Brando, made in 1969, which I have viewed a number of times (I have a copy of it).
Links
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley_FILM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley_SONG
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Loach
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cillian_Murphy
- Title: The Wind That Shakes the Barley
- Directed by: Ken Loach
- Writing credits: Paul Laverty
- Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic, Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald, Mary O'Riordan, Mary Murphy, Laurence Barry, Damien Kearney, Grank Bourke, Myles Horgan, Martin Lucey, Aidan O'Hare, Shane Casey, John Crean, Máirtín de Cógáin
- Year: 2006 (28 December)
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