Événement

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Mayoral Movies

Jul 07

(Ken Loach, Ireland, 2006, 35mm, 127 min)

Introduced by State Senator Ed Murray

Sunday, Jul 07 at 08:00PM

Ken Loach has always been committed to exploring the realities of the oppressed and disadvantaged through cinema, a great bedfellow for State Senator and Irishman Ed Murray. The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a film that confronts issues of family, patriotism and liberty, is Loach's take on the struggle for Irish independence (a mirror to Murray's struggle to pass gay marriage perhaps?) at the beginning of the 20th century, and an oppositional melodrama seeking to debunk British myths surrounding the conflict.

In the Ireland of 1919, volunteer guerrilla groups band together in the face of "Black and Tans," soldiers being shipped in from Britain to thwart Ireland's bid for independence. Driven by a sense of duty that wins out over his plans for a medical career, Damien (Cillian Murphy) joins his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) in an increasingly violent and factionalised struggle for freedom. For this effort, Loach received the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.