i must have seen a different film!!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Blistering performances.

It's 1920 Ireland. Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy), his crush Sinead (Orla Fitzgerald), and his friends are harassed by the British Black and Tans. His friend and Sinead's brother Micheail is beaten to death. He abandons practicing medicine in a London hospital to join the fight against British occupation under his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) who commands the local IRA brigade. They get captured and imprisoned with Dan (Liam Cunningham). Damien had witnessed the socialist train driver Dan being beaten by British troops for refusing to transport them. They manage to escape. After tough fighting, the Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed at the end of 1921. Teddy pleads for acceptance of the autonomous Irish Free State under the British crown. Damien follows Dan's fight for a socialist independent republic for the entire island. The two brothers end up on opposite sides of a civil war.The British are shown as sadistic villains. It's a little over the top but certainly not unexpected. The brothers' relationship could be more emphasized. Cillian Murphy is the star. I wish Padraic Delaney could be his equal. The most compelling parts are after the treaty when the brothers struggle to not fight each other. It turns a nationalist independence war into a personal family war. Cillian is so infuriating that I wanted to shake him. It ends not with a heroic fight but a family tragedy.

All wars and violent revolutions were "created" to solve some serious issues - often they did, but - in turn - brought forth new ones, with all means employed. Families were split and friendships were deprived, enemy figures changed faster that the years and solutions were interpreted according to own judgments and skills. Plus the fact that some people get used to fighting and long-term confrontation are unable to re-enter into "normal" civil life.The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a fine example of all this taking place during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1922) and the Irish Civil War (1922–1923) - through the eyes and fate of two brothers, Damien and Teddy O'Donovan, splendidly performed by Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney, respectively. Tensions are maintained up high to the end, accentuated by fierce shooting events, brutal behaviour of the British soldiers and - last but not least - desolate Irish landscape and weather. All this seems realistic even to me who is unaware of those events, and the result is a strong and catchy war drama (according to Ken Loach style) - to be watched alone or in a company of like-minded, and although some women have significant role in the film, it does probably not bespeak contemporary women.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is an inspirational film of dedication and perseverance. It delves into the world of family division and fighting for a seemingly hopeless cause. Teddy fights for a resolve to the oppression of the English but his younger brother Damien strives for complete emancipation. Through dialogue, camera angles and plot the film gives the impression that the potentially fatal devotion to liberty Damien has is correct and justified. The director positions the viewer to agree with and accept Damien's idealistic pursuit.The film seems to follow Damien as the main character; the director focuses on him. Out of all the pertinent characters, Damien has the most development. He has story lines aside from the battle for freedom. We relate to Damien and therefore believe his stand points are just and reasonable. Damien has a girl in his life. He has someone to worry about beside himself. He is fighting for her safety as well as his own. The director intentionally expanded on Damien's character more than his opposite Teddy. Damien had close friendships with other characters. Damien and Dan's relationship grew as the plot carried on. Through the conversations he had with Dan parts of his personality and opinions were displayed. The writer did not give any of the other men a more dimensional character, beside a soldier. Due to the humanization of Damien's character we are naturally drawn to view his goal as honourable and dignified.

English television and film director Ken Loach's nineteenth feature film which was written by Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, is inspired by real events which took place in Ireland in the early 20th century. It premiered In competition at the 59th Cannes International Film Festival in 2006, was screened in the Masters section at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, was shot on location in County Cork, Ireland and is an Ireland-UK-Germany-Italy-Spain co-production which was produced by producer Rebecca O'Brien. It tells the story about an Irishman and anatomy student named Damien O'Donovan who is only days away from going to work as a doctor at a hospital in London, England. Most of the men Damien has grown up with including his brother named Teddy have had enough of the way they are being treated by the British troops who has occupied their country, and is gathering a small army to drive the Brits out of Ireland. Damien thinks that they stand little chance against the British troops, but when he is waiting for his ride to England at the train station after having said goodbye to his friends he witnesses the driver of the train and his co-workers being assaulted by a group of British soldiers and decides to return to his friends, where he swears allegiance to the government of the Irish Republic, Dáil Éireann and joins them in their war for their nation's independence.Distinctly and subtly directed by European filmmaker Ken Loach, this finely paced and somewhat fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the two main characters viewpoints, draws a heartrending and involving portrayal of an oppressed Irish community who after watching a 17-year-old man named Micheail O'Sullivan being killed for saying his name in Irish decides to take up the fight against the British army and forms an Irish Republican Army. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, fine cinematography by English cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, production design by production designer Fergus Clegg and costume design by Irish costume designer Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, this narrative-driven story about nationalism, unionism, capitalism, imperialism and choosing what one is for and against, depicts two interrelated studies of character about two brothers and how their relationship and personalities are changed by a war, and contains a fine score by composer George Fenton.This political, historic, conversational and gently romantic period war drama from the late 2000s which is set in a county of Ireland during the interwar period and the Irish War of Independence in the early 1920s, and where Irish republicans are threatened with immediate and terrible war unless they ratify a peace treaty which all though providing them with a Free State within the British Empire asks them to swear an oath of allegiance to the British crown which many of them regards as going against the oath they swore to their fatherland during the last election in 1919, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, efficient continuity, incisive political conversations, scenes between Damien and his girlfriend named Sinead and the gripping acting performances by Irish actors Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham and Irish actress Orla Fitzgerald. A lingering, modestly literary and reverent homage to the Republic of Ireland which gained, among numerous other awards, the Palme d'Or at the 59th Cannes Film Festival in 2006.