There was a war going on in Ireland in 1920, the war for an independent Irish Free State.  The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was committed through armed force to obtain complete independence from Britain.  The IRB planned the Easter Rising of 1916, which led to the founding of the first Dáil Éireann, an Irish parliament in 1919.  The Dáil was outlawed by Britain and the republic went underground and established the Irish Republican Army.  The IRA (no association with the Northern IRA during the ‘troubles’) used the social revolutionary tactics of guerilla warfare by using local flying columns to ambush and attack British military units.    The Wind that Shakes the Barley is set during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) and into the first part of the Irish Civil War (1922-1923).  Director Ken Loach’s historical drama tells the fictional story of two brothers, Teddy and Damien O’Donovan who join the IRA to fight for Irelands’ independence.  The opening scenes set the tone of the movie and reveal the plight of Irish oppression by British military forces, as Damien witnesses the fatal beating of a young boy by the Black and Tans, for refusing to give his name in English.  Donal Ó Drisceoil suggests in his paper that the refusal to give his name in English and using the Irish language symbolically shows his distinctiveness as an Irishman.  The film deals with the violence from both sides, from the perspective of the IRA and their justification of internal executions to the shootings of British soldiers, and the British soldier’s perspective that they were performing their duty as soldiers.  As brutal as the Black and Tans were known to be in history, there was an interesting statement in the film by a British officer who admits that most of the men, who were demobilized soldiers from the First War, were ‘broken’ and undoubtedly suffering from shell shock (now known as PTSD). 

Ken Loach does a superb job in humanizing history and putting a face to the people that were involved in this historical period.   By using the two characters of Teddy and Damien, he allows the audience to relate to them, which permits the viewer to be pulled into that violent period of Irish history, enabling them to feel and live the experience.  Most historical films start with the beginning of a historical period and follow it to the end.  In The Wind that Shakes the Barley, we enter the story in the middle of the War of Independence and then to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which divides the two brothers, each supporting the opposite side in the Civil War.  As the film ends the Civil War is just under way, but the story of the O’Donovan brothers comes to an end. 

I strongly suggest this movie for anyone interested in history and military conflicts.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sources:

Ó Drisceoil, Donal.  Framing the Irish Revolution:  Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley.  Radical History Review. 104. 2009. P 5-15.

Great song by The Irish Descendants from Newfoundland : "Come Out Ye' Black and Tans"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCnGD6xv5ik