The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.6/10   

Director:

Ken Loach

Guionista:

Paul Laverty (writer)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

23 junio 2006 (Ireland)

Género:

Drama | Historia | Guerra

Frase comercial:

Winner of the PALME D'OR at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot:

A sympathetic look at Republicans in early 20th century Ireland, and two brothers who are torn apart by anti-Brit rebellion.

Plot Keywords:

Ireland | Black And Tans | Rebellion | Resistance | Independence

Premios:

5 wins & 19 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

One of Loach's best

Reparto

Cillian Murphy	...	Damien
Padraic Delaney	...	Teddy (as Pádraic Delaney)
Liam Cunningham	...	Dan
Orla Fitzgerald	...	Sinead
Mary O'Riordan	...	Peggy (as Mary Riordan)
Mary Murphy	...	Bernadette
Laurence Barry	...	Micheail
Damien Kearney	...	Finbar
Frank Bourke	...	Leo
Myles Horgan	...	Rory
Martin Lucey	...	Congo
Aidan O'Hare	...	Steady Boy
Shane Casey	...	Kevin
John Crean	...	Chris
Máirtín de Cógáin	...	Sean (as Mairtin de Cogain)

También conocida como:

El viento que agita la cebada (Spain)
Il vento che accarezza l'erba (Italy)
Le vent se lève (France)
El viento que acaricia el prado (Colombia) [es]

Duración:

UK:127 min

País:

Ireland | UK | Alemania | Italy | Spain | France

Idioma:

Inglés | Irish Gaelic

Color:

Color

Relación de Aspecto:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Netherlands:16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:M | Sweden:15 | Germany:12 | USA:Not Rated | Singapore:NC-16 | Chile:14 | France:U (with warning) | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Ballyvorney, County Cork, Ireland

Compañía:

BIM Distribuzione

Trivialidades:

The commercial interest expressed in the United Kingdom was initially much lower than in other European countries and only 30 prints of the film were planned for distribution in the UK, compared with 300 in France. However, after the Palme d'Or award the film appeared on 105 screens in the UK, more than three times larger than the UK release for any of Ken Loach's previous films.

Errores:

Continuidad: When Teddy has delivered Damien's letter to Sinead, he puts his cap on, gets on his motorcycle and puts his pair of goggles on the handlebar. The scene then cuts to a wide angle and the goggles are around his neck.

Citas:

Chris: Promise me, Damien. Promise me you won't bury me next to him?
[points to Sir John]
Damien: The chapel. Do you remember, on the way up? Do you remember?
Chris: Yeah.
Damien: In there.
Chris: Tell Teddy I'm sorry. I'm scared, Damien.
Damien: [sighs] Have you said your prayers?
Chris: Yeah.
Damien: God protect you.

Conexiones de Película:

Apareció en "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-03-17)" (2007)

Banda de Sonido:

Oró! Sé Do Bheatha 'Bhaile

One of Loach's best

The remarkably low rating that this film has so far received (4.1 as of Thursday 8th of June) is indicative of its ability to raise the hackles of people who haven't even seen it. How can it be otherwise when the film has not yet been released? 135 people have voted; have all of these 135 people actually watched the film? Of course not. They're just voting on the basis of their perceptions or assumptions concerning its political agenda. IMDb voters are not alone in this; already Simon Heffer in The Daily Telegraph, Dominic Lawson in The Independent, Ruth Dudley-Edwards in The Daily Mail and Michael Gove in The Times are attacking a film they haven't seen (by their own admission). These attacks are the predictable reaction of empire apologists unable to abide the depiction of the dark and brutal underside of that imperial machine, or the suggestion that anyone on the receiving end of that brutality might be justified in rebelling against it. The title of Dudley-Edward's lazy hack-job says it all, really: 'Why does Ken Loach loathe his country?' Loach is a traitor, and must be punished, the rotter.

It's a pity that this political controversy seems poised to overwhelm discussion of the film, because it's an extremely able piece of cinema and deserves to be seen as such. Barry Ackroyd's cinematography is superb, ably capturing the beauty of the Irish countryside without indulging in it. We are rooted in a locale without being lavished with pretty pictures. The acting is also excellent. The charismatic Cillian Murphy carries the movie, but the support from Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald, Aidan O'Hare and Padraic Delaney is also commendable.

But it's the collaboration between Loach and his scriptwriter Paul Laverty that makes the film something like a masterpiece. The grim progress from the murder of an Irish youth to the growth of an armed I.R.A. campaign, with its attendant violence (shown in stark and horrifying detail) is expertly managed; the only let-up comes not far from the end, after the signing of the 1921 peace treaty. Loach tries to show the brief jubilation and relief that ensues, but in terms of momentum almost drops the ball. The pace is re-established in time for the inexorable tragic denouement, and the film's final emotional impact is considerable. The load is occasionally lightened by the odd touch of Loach's characteristic wry comedy, such as the belligerence of the opening hurling game, the teenage message-boy who loses his message, the melodramatic pianist accompanying the newsreel announcing the momentous news of the creation of the Free State.

One of the most disturbing scenes occurs when a group of I.R.A. men return from a successful battle and discover a farmhouse being attacked and destroyed by a group of British soldiers. The rebels, who have no ammunition left, are forced to look on, concealed in the bushes; they watch powerless as the farmhouse's inhabitants are abused. We watch along with the characters, just as helpless as they are. Why do we watch? Do we want to intervene, to play the hero and save the day? Do we perhaps enjoy it? The trouble with many so-called anti-war films, as Loach has said, is that they outwardly condemn the violence while at the same time encouraging (intentionally or not) a vicarious pleasure in the thrill of it all. We want to take part, we imagine how we would behave in such circumstances (of course, we usually imagine ourselves behaving with impeccable bravery and surviving to fight another day). This scene, rather than placing us in the thick of the action, forces us to occupy the position of impotent bystander. Perhaps this is what being a film-goer is all about: powerless voyeurism. As we watch the country tear itself apart in civil war, manipulated by a devious and callous colonial master, this point becomes all the more pertinent. A quietly devastating film.