The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2007) **

Dir. Ken Loach
Starring Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Sabrina Barry, Gerard Kearney

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a beautifully photographed film with expansive views of the Irish countryside. It contains a cast filled with authentic performers, who feel just right fitting into the period setting. It seems clear that the events of the film are very personal to director Ken Loach, given the way he understandably tips the scales in the favor of his own point of view. Despite these admirable strengths, the film never comes together because Loach’s reserved technique saps away the inherent dramatic power contained in the story.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley transports us to 1920’s Ireland and the struggle for Irish independence. Teddy (Padraic Delaney) is the leader of a local guerilla group, but his brother Damien (Cillian Murphy) just wants to get through medical school. After witnessing a series of atrocities, Damien is inspired to join the cause and fights valiantly for his country. When a treaty is signed that gives Ireland a limited version of home rule, the brothers priorities change once again and they end up fighting against each other in a brutal civil war that would tear Ireland apart.

This isn’t a typical war movie filled with expansive battle scenes. Loach portrays the war as a series of smaller conflicts led by guerilla groups. The men fighting aren’t your typical grunts, but the average working class man fed up with British rule. The hardworking local citizenry risk their homes and their lives to support the cause. The drab colors used suggest a dreary existence for these people, and fighting for independence is the one thing they can cling to that gives their life meaning.

Loach makes an incisive point about how war can change people. A truce is signed in 1921 that ends hostilities, but only allows a limited version of independence and still demands allegiance to the British crown. Teddy is a naturally gifted leader and he clearly doesn’t want to give that up, thus he supports the treaty, allowing him to continue a leadership role in the new Irish army. However, Damien is haunted by some of the actions he undertook during the war. He can only reconcile such actions with his total commitment to his belief in full Irish independence. To him, everything he had done was worthless if he has to swear an oath to the very country he changed his entire life to fight against. Thanks to Murphy's strong performance, Damien's transformation is one of the few aspects of the film that is emotionally involving.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley has a decidedly one sided view about the treaty situation. The film clearly takes a stand against the truce and those who support it are considered traitors or cowards. This is certainly Loach’s right to take the anti-treaty side, but he demeans the complexity of the situation by presenting a one-dimensional view of the opposing argument. Any attempt to give weight to the pro-treaty side is thrown aside by the thematic weight of the ending and the trashing of IRA hero Michael Collins (not to mention future British hero Winston Churchill). It should be noted that even Eamonn de Valera, the Irish president who opposed the treaty at the time, would later remark that his own opposition was a mistake.

Even this would be fine if there had been some passion in the filmmaking, but everything here is told in a dry, reserved manner better suited for a more objective view of events. During the most horrific moments, including the execution of a childhood friend, Loach generally pulls the camera back and observes things from a distance. This makes it feel more like a history lesson than a personal story about the fight for independence. Even in the film’s final scene, Loach doesn’t let us connect with a key character, almost completely muting the tragedy that has taken place.

Loach also fails with a misguided attempt to try and show a balanced portrait of the Catholic Church’s role during the conflict. Early in the film, a priest is shown nobly praying for the IRA members. Later on, during a sermon, a priest attacks the anti-treaty crowd and threatens them with excommunication. There is some potency to the complaint against the Church’s involvement in political matters, but without enough time to fully explore this or enough care to create a more three dimensional character, it would have been a better idea to leave it out completely.

There is no doubt that that the struggle for Irish independence was a very noble cause, and the argument against the treaty has considerable merit. The atrocities committed by the British throughout the film and throughout Irish history are certainly abhorrent. However, Loach’s vision ultimately fails because he is either uninterested in the deeper intricacies of the situation or unable to provide a more visceral and intimate connection to the very people fighting for independence.