Film

Set in 1920s Ireland, Wind stars Murphy (28 Days Later) as Damien, a young med student poised to leave his rural County Cork home for further studies in London when thuggish British troops murder his soccer teammate in the course of a search for weapons. Radicalized by the atrocity, Damien and his brother Teddy (Delaney) organize an armed IRA cell and stage a series of daring and bloody actions against the occupying forces.

The insurgency eventually forces the British Parliament to concede to Ireland a degree of autonomy that stops well short of complete independence. The compromise inflames latent philosophical tensions between the brothers: The pragmatic Teddy embraces it as good enough for the time being, while Damien, a zealous socialist, vows to fight on for his vision of utopia. The souls of both having been hardened by the brutal discipline of covert partisan struggle, a Cain-and-Abel outcome is all but inevitable.  

The gorgeous cinematography by Barry Ackroyd (United 93) affords expansive outdoor settings for screenwriter Paul Laverty’s full-blooded characterizations and intelligent dialogue, and the large ensemble cast is uniformly superb.