The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

The Wind that Shakes the Barley relates the fascinating and tempestuous history of Ireland’s social and political revolution beginning in 1919 and concluding with a two year Civil War from 1921-1923, ending in the independence of the southernmost 26 counties. Cillian Murphy stars as Damien O’Donovan, a native Corkonian just at the cusp of entering the medical profession in a London clinic as Ireland spirals deeper into political upheaval and uprising. Despite the brutality of Black and Tan militias marauding throughout the Southwestern countryside, Damien nevertheless sets his sights on a career removed from the enveloping violence. Just as he is about to leave for London, he witnesses the beating of the train conductor (and member of the Irish Citizen’s Army) at the behest of a crazed British soldier, and thus returns to fight in the Irish Republican Army. Through his eyes the audience becomes privy to the clandestine actions of the countryside’s rebels as they mobilize against the British, and according to fated history, fall into a taxing and violent Civil War.

Once you get used to the near codified Cork accent (luckily I grew up knowing that “tree” was numerical, not arboreal, from my grandpa) the dialogue and pace of the film blazes through two captivating hours. Many, however, have called the film slow, and I should quickly point out that the plot holds special academic as well as familial significance to me, so I found the entire 120 minutes enthralling. The film is not entirely historically accurate, but luckily, it makes no claim to be. Instead, it uses the Cork countryside as a focalization of the many issues that pervaded the Irish independence movement: property, politics, economics, and class. To properly understand every aspect of the film, one would indeed have to hail from Ireland, but I fear even that would not be enough. This should not dissuade one from watching the film; instead, I hope it proves the opposite. The British are portrayed as brutish, while the Irish cause is unabashedly romanticized contrary to its stark realities. Nevertheless, they are realities that provide substantial cinematic fodder and The Wind that Shakes the Barley utilizes them to the utmost. Highly recommended.