Event Archive

Wednesday, July 12th 2006
The Wind That Shakes The Barley with Paddy O'Keeffe


Queues for the Film	Paddy O'Keeffe

Brighton showed both its political commitment and its dedication to world cinema last Wednesday night. The Duke of York’s was full to capacity for the BIFS screening of Ken Loach’s powerful The Wind that Shakes the Barley, a special event for BIFS considering Ken Loach is the patron of BIFS.

Introducing the film, guest speaker Paddy O’Keefe gave some background detail to the events that were depicted. He felt that the film could not be merely enjoyed but encouraged the audience to actively engage with the events and issues within the film.

The post-screen discussion at Circus Circus was - like the screening - full to capacity. Paddy O’Keefe began with elaborating on the events mentioned in his introduction, linking the events to the political history of Ireland and charting the ongoing effects throughout the 20th Century. Also discussed was the film’s timely relevance to the UK’s activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the its analysis of the corrosive effects of colonisation. In both his introduction and discussion Paddy referred to Ken Loach using a quote by the Czech author, Milan Kundera as a means of understanding the film:

"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting".

The significance of this quote was highlighted when Paddy then spoke of how the films’ events were not taught in Irish schools. He also explained that the factions of resistance that the film portrays still could carry very real influence and effect within contemporary Ireland. The speaker felt that Ken Loach was able to bring about a viewpoint that would perhaps not be accessible to an Irish filmmaker and that maybe only a non-Irish could have made this film.

The post-film talk quickly gave way to questions from the packed audience. Several people gave testimonies of their own personal experiences and that of family members - some members felt that the depiction of English brutality and the levels of poverty were, in fact downplayed by the film (a viewpoint that counters some of the negative reports in sections of the English media).

The film was felt by many people to offer a culmination to Ken Loach’s previous films, offering a continuation of the dialogue begun in his Spanish Civil War drama Land and Freedom. Members spoke of how engrossed they were in the political debating scenes and how refreshing it was to watch a film that offered screen time for these to be discussed. Members who attended the Ken Loach event last year remembered Ken telling people to keep an eye out for a three-legged dog whenever they watched one of his films. With that in mind the dog was duly spotted in one of the evocative rural scenes within the film.

Other points raised by the audience included a discussion on the tactical response to an extremely brutal, well armed occupying force and whether the film offered a means to question the ethics of armed resistance, which led to some impassioned debate within the group. This led on to a discussion on the difficulty to imagine the extent of the circumstances that lead people to resist an occupying force.

The limited distribution of The Wind that Shakes the Barley within Britain was lamented by the speaker and audience alike. However, the film winning the Palme D’Or changed this. The Cannes festival success was seen as a fitting acknowledgment to one of UK’s leading filmmakers. The discussion was one of the most engaging that BIFS had hosted and we would like to thank Paddy O’Keefe and everyone who attended who made the event a triumph.

Film Notes

12th July - The Wind That Shakes the Barley with guest speaker, Paddy O'Keefe

Our patron Ken Loach has won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes film festival in May for his latest film The Wind that Shakes the Barley. We welcome the move by Duke of York’s to screen the film from 30 June to 13 July. But we call upon our members and any non-member who is interested in coming along to attend the film on Wednesday July 12 and to join in a celebratory social gathering after the film at Circus Circus. Yes, there will be a post-film discussion at Circus Circus with an invited guest speaker!

We are pleased to announce that our guest speaker is Paddy O’Keeffe. As an Irishman, a socialist and a republican, Paddy has a particular interest in the setting and subject matter of this film. He has been active in the anti-war movement for some time and believes that the film's treatment of occupation, resistance, state terror and the corrosive effects of violence on the human spirit in that historical context has poignant significance for us today.

Set in Ireland, in the 20s, The Wind That Shakes The Barley opens with an initially hesitant and careerist Damien deciding to join his brother Teddy and the Irish Republican Army after watching one British brutality after another. Volunteer guerrilla armies are formed to face the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads that are being shipped from Britain to block Ireland's bid for independence. But a treaty is signed which divides people who fought together. The Civil War tears families apart Damien and Teddy are no exception.

This film has been ripped apart in Britain by some critics who had not even seen the film. However, the audience at Cannes found it to be a finely made and finely acted period film that was not simply about British brutality in Ireland, but also about the despair that engulfed Ireland which resulted in terrible fear and ruthless violence within. But even more, it is about a failed dream. While nowhere in the film is there any reference to future echoes of such invasion, torture and bloody unrest when an occupying force leaves, such thoughts cannot but creep into the viewer’s minds.