With the combative attitude of the prop forward he once was, my Irish history teacher Mr. Armstrong was the perfect debating opponent. As he guided us through the dramatic years from 1912-23 which led to the formation of the two Irish states, he constantly challenged the assumptions of the only nationalist in the class - me.
Davie (as we called him behind his back) took the revisionist view, holding up the well-worn myths of Irish history to the cold light of his Ulster scepticism. On the Easter Rising for example, he would concede that the rebels were brave men, but would note, with some relish, that after their surrender they had to be protected by British troops from the fury of Dubliners, whose city had been turned into a battlefield for a week.
What would Mr. Armstrong make of The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ken Loach’s new film about 1920s Ireland which has been both lauded and reviled? He would no doubt delight in pointing out every small inaccuracy and omission, but on the central point of the film’s critics - that it is anti-British - I can’t imagine him agreeing. It is one thing to look at history again to see the shades of grey, quite another to argue that black is white.
Loach’s film unflinchingly portrays the British Black and Tans as an ill-disciplined rabble who assault civilians, harass women and torture prisoners. In other words, he gives them exactly the respect they deserve. The hysterical criticism of Loach’s film among certain parts of the right-wing press in Britain disguises the fact that much of the violence takes place between Irishmen, first the IRA and the police, then between republicans themselves. Easily the most painful scene of the film involves one Irishman killing another.
The film follows the life of Damien (Cillian Murphy), a medical student in rural county Cork who is driven into the arms of the IRA by the arrogant brutality of the Tans. Damien and his childhood friends set about raiding barracks, attacking convoys and shooting soldiers in bars. Eventually, a treaty is signed with the enemy, leaving Ireland partitioned and still within the British Empire. The IRA men split into two groups, one led by Damien, determined to fight on for the republic, the other headed up by his brother Terry (Padraic Delaney) content to set up an Irish Free State and put victory off for another day.
Throughout the film we are left in little doubt that :Loach’s sympathies lie with Damien, the bourgeois intellectual turned socialist man of action. In spite of this bias, the film is at its most interesting when it explores the tension between purist and realist. In one scene, with the war against the British still raging, an IRA court fines a local Shylock for extorting an old woman. The volunteers argue bitterly about the ruling, with the soon-to-be Free Staters saying the moneylender should be let off, as his wealth is needed to buy guns. The argument is never resolved, but the battle-lines have been drawn for future conflict.
While the film raises any number of interesting points on the nature of armed resistance and democracy, it is as a story that it ultimately falls flat. The central relationship between Terry and Damien is never fully developed such that, when they do part company, we are left with no great sense of loss.
Loach clearly wants us to side with Damien when the split comes but, out of contrariness, I found myself sympathising with Terry, who realises that half a loaf beats no bread at all. By contrast Damien, in common with many modern-day republicans, exhibits a monumental sense of self-righteousness which is meant to make him seem romantic, but leads me only to find him insufferable.
Perhaps because of this, I wasn’t moved by the film as I should have been. The Wind That Shakes The Barley is not poor history, but it is poor story-telling.