A Mighty Wind

Ken Loach's tale of a family divided is unified in its message.

by Sam Adams

BLOOD BROTHERS: Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

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Whenever you see Ken Loach's name, the word "controversial" must be close by. But his latest film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, is unusual in that it has managed to irritate people on both ends of the political spectrum. Set in Ireland in the 1920s, the movie was savaged in England for its portrayal of the Black and Tans — the British paramilitaries tasked with suppressing the IRA — as vicious, murderous thugs. (Among other things, Loach was compared to Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, who's always a good go-to for knee-jerk condemnation.) But earlier in 2006, when it took the Palme d'Or at Cannes from a jury who was widely expected to use the award to make a political statement, commentators deemed Wind insufficiently radical, a safe and somewhat baffling choice.

The divide points up a schism that has troubled Loach's films since the beginning. By temperament, and especially when paired with Wind screenwriter Paul Laverty, Loach tends toward the broadside, seeing the world as a corrupt, desolate place where the powers that be always have the upper hand. But as a filmmaker, he specializes in small-scale social realism, minute interactions and muscular, nuanced performances. His movies work best when the two sides meet, giving some sense of how political change is nurtured in living rooms, and how it sweeps up individuals in its wake.

Wind begins as a diatribe, with a wire-tight scene in which Damien (Cillian Murphy), a medical student home on leave, is witness to the Black and Tans' brutal methods. Drawn into the struggle by his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney), Damien is quickly radicalized and convinced of the necessity of liberating Ireland from British rule, whatever the cost. But once the IRA gets its way, the lines are blurred.

The revolution is split between those who feel a partial victory is better than none and those who feel the terms of the Irish Free State will only "change the accents" of the people in charge. Predictably, the brothers fall on opposite sides of the conflict, a structural gimmick that seems inimical to the movie's wonderfully intense and naturalistic performances.

The key scene comes before the liberation, in an IRA court where a wealthy banker is accused of usury. Convicted and ordered to repay the impoverished landowners he has thrust into bankruptcy, the banker gets a reprieve because his money is used to supply guns to fight the British. There can be no revolution without his money, but with it, what kind of revolution will it be?

What the Cannes jury must have seen is that Loach and Laverty's story is a cautionary tale about placing a certain kind of freedom above all else, and the risks of making swift victory a higher priority than the ideals of a nation. Seen not as a tale from the past but one whose lessons reflect on the present, its message is perfectly clear.

(s_adams@citypaper.net)

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Directed by Ken LoachAn IFC Films release