The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

It's about Ireland's struggle for independence in 1920.

Watchable historical drama. The film tries to problematize the dual issue of a) one country's dominion over another, and b) one class's dominion over others. In my humble opinion, movies with political content such as this one are never truly one-sided (unless you are very influenciable or naive), because you can always interpret it in complementary ways, for instance the hero's death can always be construed as a defeat of his ideas (even if the movie refuses to add a final caption explaining foreign and lesser informed viewers that the current situation in Ireland implies this defeat) as opposed to romantic martyrdom. Anyway, this is a topic for a longer discussion which is not going to happen here. And the film is not that much of a success in the artistic plane to motivate me down that road.

Rating: 50