tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20744716.post-89744514539966174852007-11-05T23:01:00.000Z2007-11-05T23:06:49.346Z<span style="font-weight:bold;">THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Ken Loach, Germany/Italy/Spain/France/Ireland/UK, 2006, 127 mins, [15]</span></span><br /><br />Ireland 1920. In the town and countryside workers are uniting to form volunteer guerilla armies to face the ruthless 'Black and Tan' squads being shipped from Britain to counter Ireland's bid for independence. When his friend is brutally murdered by British soldiers, Damien (Cillain Murphy) abandons his career as a doctor and joins his brother Teddy (Padraic Delany) in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. As their bold tactics bring the British to breaking point, both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the blooodshed. Despite the apparent victory, civil war erupts and the brothers find their loyalties put to the ultimate test.<br /><br />Winner of Best Film at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and 2007 Irish Film & TV Awards, The Wind that Shakes the Barley is an unflinchingly raw and beautiful film from a director whose career spans 40 years of hard-hitting docudrama and social realism.<br /><br />Official website: <a href="http://www.thewindthatshakesthebarley.co.uk/">thewindthatshakesthebarley.co.uk</a><br /><br />Discussion led by a panel including a representative of Sinn Fein.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11757812856109126371noreply@blogger.com