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Wind That Shakes the Barley, The
IFC First Take

Wind That Shakes the Barley, The reviews


8.0

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 36 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Gerard Kearney, and William Ruane

In this historical drama, two brothers find themselves on opposing sides in Ireland's struggle for freedom from Britain.

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign \| War
WRITTEN BY:	Paul Laverty
DIRECTED BY:	Ken Loach
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 4, 2007 Theatrical: March 16, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	127 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Germany / Italy / Spain / France / Ireland / UK
LANGUAGE(S):	English / Gaelic

Golden Palm, 2006 Cannes Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A beautiful film, harrowing, tough and rife with grief.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Takes a chaotic moment in the long history of "the Troubles" and turns it into a keening, air-clearing epic.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Immediately has you in its thrall and doesn't let go -- a reminder of how powerful and moving cinema set in wartime can be when all the elements align.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's unmistakably the work of aging cinema activist Loach, who wears his social-justice heart on his sleeve and pauses the story for lively debates among the characters, especially as Sinn Fein signs a treaty that many think betrays the cause.

Newsweek David Ansen

Loach hurls us into the fracas, circa 1920, and creates such a vivid sense of the nuts and bolts of guerilla war you almost forget you are watching a period piece. Unlike the epic sweep of Neil Jordan's "Billy Collins," which spoke in a syntax closer to Hollywood's, "The Wind" doesn't paint over its political arguments with a patina of nostalgia.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Loach's cast fits perfectly, and his directing has his usual extra tang of commitment. He provides almost a sensory response to his material: we seem to feel the textures and scent the air.

The New Yorker David Denby

A sombrely beautiful dream of the violent Irish past. Refusing the standard flourishes of Irish wildness or lyricism, Loach has made a film for our moment, a time of bewildering internecine warfare.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The history presented in The Wind That Shakes the Barley hardly feels like a closed book or a museum display. It is as alive and as troubling as anything on the evening news, though far more thoughtful and beautiful.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The Wind That Shakes the Barley turns out to be a more complicated, more dramatically potent story than it appears at first. It's concerned at its core not with how bad the British were but with what the cost of dealing with them was for the Irish.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The vicious clamor the film occasioned in the U.K. is simply the measure of how volatile a subject the relationship between England and Ireland remains more than eight decades after the film's events, and the thinking viewer can hardly help but see parallels between the Irish insurgency and all subsequent guerrilla conflicts.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Beautifully shot, both in darkened homes and on the misty green Irish landscape by Loach's frequent cinematographer Barry Aykroyd, "Wind" has a you-are-there intensity and intimacy about it that make it nearly overwhelming. But for all its violence and subsequent sadness, it's a movie of extraordinary importance.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Gripping, powerful, heart-breaking.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a multi-layered story, and the more you see those different aspects, the more you'll enjoy the film.

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

With so many thrills, Loach has completed one hell of a multi-functioning work.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Director Ken Loach is full of astonishments. An avowedly leftist filmmaker, he has always seen beyond political cant to compassionate reality. He's also incredibly sensitive to what might be called the nuances of life, and he always brings a high sense of spontaneous reality to his films.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Like Jean-Pierre Melville's recently rediscovered "Army of Shadows," The Wind That Shakes the Barley possesses the soul of an anti-war movie and the style of a thriller.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

That title would suit a melodrama with an emphasis on doomed love, which is not what Loach has crafted. There is a (chaste) love story and plenty of bloodletting. But what engages him and his screenwriter, Paul Laverty, is the growing tension between brother Irish rebels.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Some of Mr. Loach's earlier feature films have been easier to admire than to enjoy. This one, which won the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival, fairly vibrates with dramatic energy.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Paul Laverty's script is a masterpiece of ambivalent populism.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

There are moments that stir, and it's always lovely, but it's generally too remote to gain hold of you truly.

New York Post Kyle Smith

We may not need another IRA movie, but even so, Ken Loach's Brit-bashing historical drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley, winner of the top prize at Cannes last year, raises hard questions about Ireland's uncanny ability to kneecap itself.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

This is a war film with an anti-epic feel, best when it forgoes the forced march of plot to hunker down in the trenches of our flawed humanity.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The historical scope of this story, as well as Loach's interest in absolute fairness, seems to have drained some of the life from its telling.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

If Loach had given full voice to each side of this division, he could have made a great film -- maybe THE great film -- about the Irish struggle.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

There's a kind of dry tastefulness about The Wind That Shakes The Barley's historical recreations, even when Loach is staging rapes and executions.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Intermittently gripping, but overlong.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

It's a film that approaches greatness and then fumbles.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

As frequently happens in both Loach films and history, the betrayal of ideals, socialist and otherwise, leaves a harsh aftertaste, which made me feel sadder but not much wiser.

Variety Derek Elley

Though tastily lensed and with a convincing cast led by Cillian Murphy, essentially small-scale picture lacks the involving sweep of Loach's earlier historical-political yarn, "Land and Freedom."

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

Atmospheric but pedestrian, it is a retelling of the classic tragedy of all civil wars, from the U.S. to Vietnam to England, where brother is pitched against brother.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a7:
Damien(Cillian Murphy) is the one with brains, London-bound, a future doctor. He's educated. He's supposed to be the sanest of the bunch. Alas, Damien is the trigger-man when it's time to execute a young Irish farmhand to an English baron who sold his mates out to the enemy. Instead of saving lives, he's ending them. Just in case we missed the irony, he tells us. Does the filmmaker show too heavy a hand in exemplifying the horrors of a civil war? That's debatable. War isn't subtle, and yet, you have to wonder if Damien's transformation from a reluctant soldier to a cold-blooded murderer is entirely organic, or the grand gesture of a radicalized filmmaker. Nevertheless, this particular scene, and Damien's ensuing comeuppance is riveting stuff. "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" works. At least the filmmaker shows some restraint. The niceties of English culture are largely kept off-screen. There's no tea-time, no crumpets, no butlers in penguin suits. Also, the most heroic deed is performed by a young English soldier.

Joe M. gave it an8:
A good faithful account. Some would say that the movie was boring. But they're just Americans who think that Ireland at this time was like warfare in Iraq.

G M. gave it a10:
This is a must see for anyone with the slightest interest in what has happened in Ireland. It is a harrowing story which gives an insight of the hardship and pain caused by imperialist Britain in the earlier 20th century and how they fought back. Something that nobody can deny and is quite insulting towards the Irish people to do so. It also shows how torn apart the Irish people became after the treaty was signed to split the country which is an open sore that is still unhealed to this day.

S G. gave it an8:
I liked this film because it's interesting and directed by Ken Loach. Cillian Murphy is a good actor and does his job well. It made my mom cry but that's not really saying much seeing as my mom started crying while reading a children's book. Overall a good film. I wish I'd learnt about the history first.

Kenneth C. gave it a4:
I agree completely with the Doug S. review. All the raw material (good actors, good topic) is present to be a good or even great film. But it turns out to be a boring, sloppy, not cohesive product.

Rosie gave it a9:
Mr Pedro B, I have to disagree with you completely. Loach is not being one sided. If you knew anything about what has happened in Ireland this last hundred years or so you would know that the English don't have a foot to stand on. I would like you to research the background of this film and you will see that the British came to THIS country and made lives hell for no reason. Obviously the Irish fought back.. but I am aware the Irish are not angles but this film depicts what ACTUALLY happened. It is based on TRUE events! So it is not ONE SIDED. If it did show it from the British point of veiw, you will still see the British wrecking houses and brutally murdering people! Ok! Loach has done an excellent job in showing how the troubles turned brother against brother. It is a very powerful film and truly thought-provoking.

Alexandra gave it a9:
Heartbreakingly beautiful. An extremly well done film, wonderful acting, and beautiful cinematography. I found it to be a very moving story.

Wind That Shakes the Barley, The IFC First Take

Wind That Shakes the Barley, The
IFC First Take