The Wind that Shakes the Barley
A Movie Review
By Dan McDonald
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
“The
Wind that Shakes the Barley” was a globally acclaimed movie which won the Palme
d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
Unfortunately most Americans have never heard of it, let alone having seen
it. The movie captures in the microcosm of a small group of friends, the
emotions and events of the Irish Revolution of 1919-1922; and then beyond into the divisions that exploded into something akin to an Irish Civil War following the peace treaty of 1922. Some knowledge of the Irish history exposed by this movie may well help some watchers of this movie see and feel with greater depth the story being set forth in this powerful movie.
I suppose that most of us realize that British and Irish relations had been strained for centuries. Some of you surely know the reasons better than others, and the truth is that centuries of remembered offenses erupted into the revolution of the Irish people against the British Empire.
One of the offenses had been committed by Cromwell after his victory over the Royalist forces in the English Civil War in 1648. Cromwell saw Ireland and its Catholicism as trouble for the future of the Protestant Republic established with the defeat of the monarchists. Cromwell rewarded Scots Presbyterians with lands and estates to be turned over to Protestants in order to dilute Catholic strength within Ireland. From that time forward, larger and larger chunks of Irish land and property began to be possessed by non-Irish. This would lead to demands for economic redistribution in the Irish Revolution.
Another reason for stormy relations between Ireland and the rest of the regions of the United Kingdom was the wounds Ireland had suffered with hardly any help from others in Britain during the time of the Potato Famine in the 1840's. None of the major British political parties chose to intervene as tens of thousands of Irishmen, women, and children died from starvation or the effects of malnutrition. The Tories would not support a relaxation in laws limiting grain imports into Britain; and the Liberals intent on having an economics based on free markets would not intervene in the free markets by principle. For the Irish, who did the dying in the hundreds of thousands before the famine was over, the real reason the rest of Britain did nothing was because they were Irish. The Irish wanted an end to British rule. Following the Potato Famine there was a growing sense within Britain that Irish Home Rule was needed. In 1912 legislation was passed to establish Irish home rule. But before the Irish home rule could be established World War I began. Irish leaders were divided. Most were in favor of giving Britain time to battle Germany. But some were fearful that the British would use their war with Germany to renege on the Home Rule legislation.
In 1916 a revolution was declared by a few leaders who did not trust the British. The Easter rebellion of 1916 gained only a small group of followers around Dublin and the revolutionaries were defeated and executed. Most Irish had not supported the Easter rebellion of 1916 but the British angered most of Ireland by its brutal treatment of those captured following the brief rebellion. Britain had easily won the fighting but afterwards destroyed any hopes of creating a chance at peace. There were parliamentary elections in 1918, and the Irish people voted in accord with their anger at Britain's harsh treatment of Ireland. The Irish were especially angered by the arrogance of the occupying "black and tan brigades Britain brought into Ireland in order to quell any potential uprising. In the 1918 elections the vast majority of Irish seats in Parliament went to members of the Sinn Fein Party, which was the party which most supported Irish independence from Britain. Elected to represent districts in Ireland, the Sinn Fein representatives instead announced they would not represent Ireland at Westminster, but that they would form an independent Irish Republic and would rule from within Ireland. They notified other nations that Ireland officially recognized the 1916 Irish Declaration of Independence and that until British soldiers were removed from Ireland the two nations were in a state of war.
One of the offenses had been committed by Cromwell after his victory over the Royalist forces in the English Civil War in 1648. Cromwell saw Ireland and its Catholicism as trouble for the future of the Protestant Republic established with the defeat of the monarchists. Cromwell rewarded Scots Presbyterians with lands and estates to be turned over to Protestants in order to dilute Catholic strength within Ireland. From that time forward, larger and larger chunks of Irish land and property began to be possessed by non-Irish. This would lead to demands for economic redistribution in the Irish Revolution.
Another reason for stormy relations between Ireland and the rest of the regions of the United Kingdom was the wounds Ireland had suffered with hardly any help from others in Britain during the time of the Potato Famine in the 1840's. None of the major British political parties chose to intervene as tens of thousands of Irishmen, women, and children died from starvation or the effects of malnutrition. The Tories would not support a relaxation in laws limiting grain imports into Britain; and the Liberals intent on having an economics based on free markets would not intervene in the free markets by principle. For the Irish, who did the dying in the hundreds of thousands before the famine was over, the real reason the rest of Britain did nothing was because they were Irish. The Irish wanted an end to British rule. Following the Potato Famine there was a growing sense within Britain that Irish Home Rule was needed. In 1912 legislation was passed to establish Irish home rule. But before the Irish home rule could be established World War I began. Irish leaders were divided. Most were in favor of giving Britain time to battle Germany. But some were fearful that the British would use their war with Germany to renege on the Home Rule legislation.
In 1916 a revolution was declared by a few leaders who did not trust the British. The Easter rebellion of 1916 gained only a small group of followers around Dublin and the revolutionaries were defeated and executed. Most Irish had not supported the Easter rebellion of 1916 but the British angered most of Ireland by its brutal treatment of those captured following the brief rebellion. Britain had easily won the fighting but afterwards destroyed any hopes of creating a chance at peace. There were parliamentary elections in 1918, and the Irish people voted in accord with their anger at Britain's harsh treatment of Ireland. The Irish were especially angered by the arrogance of the occupying "black and tan brigades Britain brought into Ireland in order to quell any potential uprising. In the 1918 elections the vast majority of Irish seats in Parliament went to members of the Sinn Fein Party, which was the party which most supported Irish independence from Britain. Elected to represent districts in Ireland, the Sinn Fein representatives instead announced they would not represent Ireland at Westminster, but that they would form an independent Irish Republic and would rule from within Ireland. They notified other nations that Ireland officially recognized the 1916 Irish Declaration of Independence and that until British soldiers were removed from Ireland the two nations were in a state of war.
The war for independence lasted from 1919 to 1922, when some of the leaders of the revolution accepted a negotiated treaty with the British Empire. The resulting free state did not include the northern region of Ireland where a Protestant majority existed. Nor did the treaty do much to address the large amount of Irish land owned by non-Irish persons. Finally the Irish independence included an agreement for the Irish to continue to pledge allegiance to the British sovereign. Large numbers of the Irish Republican Army refused to abide by the treaty. The Free State of Ireland was declared and instituted according to the agreement made by the Irish and British leadership in 1922. For all practical purposes a civil war broke out between those loyal to the original demands of the Irish Republican Army, and those willing to settle for the compromise established in the Free State of Ireland.
All of these realities are pictured in microcosm in “The
Wind that shakes the Barley”. The movie
is often violent. Some
scenes are painful to view. The movie while showing in cinematic form the violence of the times, does not seek to glorify the war. I was deeply moved by how the film's creators seem to have presented this view of history to raise the question regarding whether war could ever really end injustice? On the one hand the presence of injustice seems to justify the creation of forces to eradicate the injustice occurring in the land. But on the other hand, armies fight with discipline and codes of punishment for those whose faith in the cause waver on the battlefield. There are scenes when men's will power fail them and they betray their just cause. What does an army do with traitors? If the Black and Tan were vengeful, so could the Irish Republican Army be vicious, and so could the Irish Free State stand its ground when its authority was tested. It seems to me that the film's creators brilliantly pose the question whether injustice can ever be defeated by an army, or if the use of armies simply eternalize the powers of injustice through the use of violence. It seems to me that “The Wind that Shakes the Barley” does a brilliant job
presenting us the scenes that demand us to consider whether war can ever dislodge injustice. It succeeds I believe in forcing us to consider the question without giving us the answer which we alone must provide on the basis of our own rational and conscientious considerations.
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