The Wind That Shakes the Barley

2006 127 min ★ 7.3 Drama, War

In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

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Cast

Cillian Murphy

Damien

Pádraic Delaney

Teddy

Liam Cunningham

Dan

Orla Fitzgerald

Sinead

Mary O'Riordan

Peggy

Mary Murphy

Bernadette

Laurence Barry

Micheail

Damien Kearney

Finbar

Frank Bourke

Leo

Myles Horgan

Rory

Details

Director

Ken Loach

Screenplay

Paul Laverty

Tagline

"War has cost them their innocence... Freedom will cost them their blood."

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Budget

$6,500,000

Revenue

$22,900,000

Production

Sixteen Films, Matador Pictures, Regent Capital, Element Pictures, BiM Distribuzione, EMC, Tornasol Media, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, UK Film Council, TV3

Reviews

A

Andres Gomez

September 27, 2013

★ 8/10

Intense drama about Ireland's independence from the UK and the ultimate reasons for the need of freedom.

T

tmdb28039023

September 3, 2022

★ 6/10

After watching The Wind That Shakes the Barley, I'm tempted to say that Hollywood ruined Cillian Murphy, but the fact is that this drama written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach doesn’t really establish, for better or worse, a before and after in the career of the Irish actor; it's more a case of a blind squirrel finding a nut — which is still one more nut than most find (plus, Murphy's r...

C

CinemaSerf

March 26, 2023

★ 6/10

Though quite provocative, I was really disappointed with the anti-British simplicity of this drama. It all centres around two brothers - "Teddy" (Pádraic Delaney) and "Damien" (Cillian Murphy) and the increasingly desperate - and violent - tactics they employed to eject the occupiers from their country. The latter man is not an instant convert to these activities. About to travel to the UK to be a...