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'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' set visit

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'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' set visit

Dave Calhoun catches up with Ken Loach on location in Ireland.

Jul 18 2005

'In your own time, and off you go,' says Ken Loach calmly to two of his actors as another scene rolls on his latest, Irish-set film 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley', ditching the traditional yell of 'Action!' for a gentler, more characteristic approach.

This is Loach's first period tale since 'Land and Freedom' (1995), and there are certainly parallels between this new film and that earlier story of internal struggle among freedom fighters during the Spanish Civil War.

This time, Loach's focus is the lead-up to the Irish Civil War of 1922 and the complexities of Ireland's struggle for independence at a grass-roots level. Once again, the director is showing concern for ordinary people who organise themselves to fight against foreign or oppressive rule.

The film has contemporary significance too. While 'Land and Freedom' reflected the problem of fascist resurgence in mid-'90s Europe, so the occupation of Iraq is surely not irrelevant to this new project.

We're in Bandon, a small town about half an hour outside Cork. Loach and two of his lead actors – Cillian Murphy ('28 Days Later', 'Batman Begins') and Liam Cunningham – are squeezed into a grey, windowless room in the basement of a former town hall.

Today, this dismal and cramped space represents an austere prison cell in County Cork in 1919. Dressed in period gear, Murphy and Cunningham are playing two captured members of Ireland's organised, armed resistance to British rule; they are members of one of the Irish Republican Army's 'flying columns'.

Neither character is a celebrated political figure or legendary military leader as this film is not a grand historical epic driven by well-known personalities and events.

Instead, Loach is exploring this tumultuous period in Irish history via fictional characters: two brothers, Damien (Murphy) and Teddy (Padraig Delaney), and their friend Dan (Cunningham). All three abandon their former lives to help execute a violent underground campaign against British rule.

'It's about the civil war in microcosm,' explains Loach's producer Rebecca O'Brien, a veteran of nine Loach films.

Several other key crew members – such as cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and sound mixer Ray Beckett – have also worked with Loach for years.

'It's not a story like 'Michael Collins', O'Brien continues. 'It's not seeking that sort of biographical accuracy, but rather will express the themes of the period. This is the core of the later Troubles, which is why it's so fascinating to make.'

Loach and his crew have been on location in Cork for five weeks now. Almost the entire cast are from the area, even Cillian Murphy the lead actor, who's better known, has a local pedigree.

The film has lingered long in Loach's mind. O'Brien explains that he first thought of telling the 'Irish story' when he made the inter-war drama series 'Days of Hope' for television in the mid-'70s.

Indeed his long-time screenwriter Jim Allen was working on a script (then titled 'The Stolen Republic') when he died in 1999. Two years ago, Loach's most recent writer, Paul Laverty ('Carla's Song', 'Ae Fond Kiss') took up the baton and has approached the story from scratch with a new script and an intense period of research in Ireland.

Later the same day, Loach fills a local hall with around 70 extras, old and young, all of whom are dressed up for a rousing ceilidh scene which takes place in that brief period of peace and optimism between the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 and the outbreak of civil war the next year.

A local band – including a singer with a fantastic bird's nest of a white beard – plays traditional Irish party songs and the crowd dances wildly. Photos of heroes of the 1916 Easter Rising – James Connolly, Joseph Plunkett, Padraig Pearse – line the wall and the Irish tricolour flag hangs behind the stage .

Loach gives a quick pep-talk to the crowd: 'It's the summer of 1921, and you're all either members of a flying column or at least Republicans, and so are very enthusiastic about Irish culture. There's a real bar, but please don't go too wild. Still, this is a big film, so we can afford a drink for all of you.'

O'Brien, the producer, rolls her eyes in mock-horror at the words 'big film'. 'It's costing the equivalent of about four-and-a-half Batmobiles,' she later jokes. She then explains how costly it is to ensure the accuracy of the period detail, pointing to a modern phone box that the crew obscured with a horse-and-cart for an earlier scene rather than pay £400 for its temporary removal.

Before the party scene kicks off, Loach comes over for a quick word. 'It's typical, you managed to be here this morning for the only scene in which the word 'socialism' is used,' he grins, referring to an earlier prison-cell conversation between Damien and Dan in which they quote a speech by James Connolly, one of the martyrs of the Easter Rising.

Loach is quite aware of those detractors who criticise him for banging the political drum. 'But why do we shy away from these issues?' asks O'Brien. 'People fear politics. But here we're always trying not to shy away, to lay out the facts in a grown-up way. We don't want to pander to the lowest common denominator. We want to raise discussion.'

To read Dave Calhoun's Cannes review of 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley', click here.

And to read news of the film's Palme d'Or win, click here.

User comments on this story

Nick Clark said...

Hey I must be Nick Clark number four, as for my view of the film it was rubbish. Some idiot compared it to Michael Collins that's like comparing a racehorse to a donkey. Loach's film being the donkey in this case. What's wrong with all of you? you must be bored out of your brain's if you think that film was great. I could make a better film myself with a camcorder and a few amatures to act the part's. This film was doomed from the start I stayed watching it thinking that it might perk up it only got worse and more boring as it went on. Murphy was great!!! he was in his arse did he realise that in the 1920's there was no one talking with the stupid fake accent's that some people use today, he should have dropped his fake accent for the film. I am irish and have lived in cork all my life or should I say coirk as some fool's call it now. Anyone thinking of buying the dvd should keep their money in their pocket's. Get lost Loach and would somebody who know's how to make a decent film do a better job of it and throw Loach's disaster in the bin. Posted on Oct 23 2006 22:45

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Mick said...

What a waste of time this film was. Useless actor's, no real story, looked like a low budget film to me. However I had to laugh at that comment about the gombeen men waiting for their money. Posted on Oct 22 2006 22:58

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Rohan said...

I have just come home from watching this film and I have to say, Ken, it hits all the buttons.
I am a Brit and a socialist whatever that means in our world today, but I have to ask myself, are there circumstances in which I could been one of those british soldiers, or any of the 'actors' in this drama who commit murder in the name of a good cause?
This is a timely film in an age when murder is being justified on all sides across the world.
It would be good, but naive, to think that anything fundemental has really changed since the period that this film represents. Posted on Sep 29 2006 00:06

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Brendan said...

its a brilliant film, 10/10. Posted on Sep 25 2006 20:12

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Peter Francis McCready said...

The film isa just out in Australia and I have seen it this afternoon. The Irish Civil War is the reason why my family is down here, too difficult to stay.
As a veteran of the Vietnam War I am no stranger to personal trauma and the death of young men for "the Cause", whatever that has been. When all is said, and all is done, it is the mothers of the dead, and the old soldiers who go to their graves with shattered hearts.
For all that, I am glad that I experienced the film. It really touched my soul. Posted on Sep 25 2006 10:03

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kathleen matthews said...

My father was born in Ireland and hated the Black andTans with a passion. I listened as a child to all the stories about the Troubles. I would like to know when I can see this movie. Posted on Sep 18 2006 20:49

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Monica Karlson, Gothenburg/Sweden said...

Have been looking forward to this movie - opening in Gothenburg will be 15 Sept-06. The Wind that shakes the Barley - only the title... I really love everything about Ireland. Have been there, and will go back. All the best fm Monica. Posted on Sep 15 2006 09:08

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miceal McGovern said...

cannot find anywhere to actually see the film, working in Lincolnshire at present can anyone help? Posted on Sep 12 2006 11:13

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Ian Newton said...

Further to my comment above, on reflection I think the two films actually complement each other rather well. "Michael Collins" gives a fuller and more factual historical account on the national platform, whereas "The Wind..." shows how these events might well have impacted (and probably did) on a smaller local group of people who were somewhat removed from the main protagonists. Posted on Sep 10 2006 12:12

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Ian Newton said...

Once one understands and allows for the director's "fiction based on fact" approach, this is a good film - though some initial introduction going back to (say) 1916 would have been helpful. For a more documentary and historical account of the mainstream events of this period, though, the first class 10 year old film "Michael Collins" is far preferable. Posted on Sep 08 2006 09:12

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justinm said...

The tans were wrongly wearing auxiliary "tam o shanter" caps, a common mistake as many photos showing auxiliaries are captioned as tans. Tans wore ordinary RIC peaked caps and by late 1920 uniform shortages had been remedied so they looked no different to regular RIC men.Auxiliaries wore a wide variety of uniforms, from their old army gear to a dark blue police outfit. However it was the Tam o shanter cap which identified them as auxies. And surprise surprise at least seven of the Macroom castle auxies were Irish born!
The cap badge was the RIC one and each company had their own particular backing design on theirs. The auxies were responsible for most of the atrocities in the war, tans could be vicious or indifferent bbut the auxies took it personally. The best authority on both groups is Gen Tom Barry who said that tans were made up of good and bad like any army but the Auxies were the real terror. No better judge than the man himself! Posted on Sep 07 2006 18:16

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Tom said...

Having seen the film with great interest, I was surprised at its inaccuracies. Just what was that huge badge on his beret worn by each Tan? And did somebody say that auxies were in the film? I never saw one, and the tans - sorry, actors - were pathetic. Their tactics were straight out of recent films with too much shouting, swearing and phrases like 'dont eyeball me' which is a modern filmatic invention. And they always appeared on foot from around corners - not a Crossley tender to be seen!. They must have been breathless at the end of each operation. But seriously though, someone complained about the amount of violence in the film. From my own studies into that period, when the tans carried out reprisals they often swept a street with machine gun and rifle fire, killing and wounding as they went and occasionally kidnapping an innocent passer-by into the bargain. In the film, no one was hurt in a similar scene - absolutely remarkable!
In so many supposedly factual films, a little more effort would have resulted in the complete story being told. The so-called newsreel could have been used to relate the fact that in 1948, S. Ireland was declared a Republic and finally got rid of English influence, an event that would have tied in with one of the film's themes - 'Was it all worth it' Posted on Sep 06 2006 22:32

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Ian Newton said...

What happened to my comment, posted on 26th August? It appeared briefly but seems to have disappeared. Posted on Aug 31 2006 21:50

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justinm said...

just wondering why the English war graves organisations dont try to locate and repatriate the remains of its soldiers and policemen executed and buried in southern Ireland.during the war of ind. many captured tommies and tans were executed and buried in bogs and fields and still lie unreclaimed by those who sent them there in the first place...the french russians etc allow the germans recover their lost soldiers remains so why dont the english organisations doso in southern Ireland? I think its time to let them be taken "home" for what most people wish for,a decent christian burial. enough time has passed! Posted on Aug 30 2006 19:15

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paul collins said...

as a brit i feel that this is a very important film to show the heavy handed approach which was used at the time by our government and that even as a nation today we can accept that we are not always right or correct in the way we have dealt with the political issues past or indeed present , i thoroughly enjoyed the movie and thought the acting most excellent , about time this very important part of history has got the limelight and in such a powerful way , i hope it pushes many more british people to read and find out more about the truth from that particular part of our history as it has me , well done all concerned with the movie , a modern classsic . Posted on Aug 27 2006 01:22

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