The Wind That Shakes the Barley

This film was an extremely poignant portrayal of the Irish struggle against the British. Before viewing this film I was aware of the struggles between the British and Irish but not on a knowledgeable basis. The treatment of the Irish people by the British was reprehensible and this movie can be seen to sum up in many ways the colonial domination of the British on not just the Irish but any of their colonized peoples. The air of flagrant superiority of the British soldiers and their treatment of the Irish people like subhuman animals was not unique to Ireland and occurred in the African and Indian colonies. The movie as a whole shows that it was not just the first hand British domination that created conflict in the Irish peoples lives but it was the upheaval of the native way of life that caused the subjugated peoples to have even greater conflict amongst themselves. This movie could be analyzed very superbly through a historical lens and with a greater knowledge of the Irish struggle for independence comes a greater depth to the events that occur in the movie.