The Wind That Shakes the Barley 2006

Marta Barber, Miami Herald: The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a multi-layered story, and the more you see those different aspects, the more you'll enjoy the film. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You'll be heartbroken in the course of the film's two hours. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: [Loach is] the master of the docu-drama or the realist social film, and Wind is one of his masterpieces. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The acting is solid all around -- so convincing that the rough Irish accents are appropriately indecipherable at times, and the story itself is as tragic and complicated as that moment in history. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: As frequently happens in both Loach films and history, the betrayal of ideals, socialist and otherwise, leaves a harsh aftertaste, which made me feel sadder but not much wiser. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Wind That Shakes the Barley isn't interested in being a straightforward or romanticized history lesson. Rather, [director] Loach offers an examination of the very nature of rebellion, as filtered through the particulars of the Irish troubles. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: [Director] Loach and [co-screenwriter] Laverty are still capable of creating moments startling in their naturalism -- almost like a window into the past. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: What does come through is Loach's characteristic disdain for cheap romanticism and easy answers. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Loach has the gift of finding the intensely moving private emotions in broad, societal dilemmas. He does that with his fine new film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and he does a few new things as well. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Loach has a long and honored career as a political filmmaker, and The Wind that Shakes the Barley is more accessible -- i.e. conventional -- than most of his other films. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The ferocity of [director Ken] Loach's moral wrath carries the movie, makes it ignite on screen -- at least, until he tries to dramatize the fatal split of Ireland through Damien and Teddy, the brothers in arms. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: A profound consideration of the fog of wars that rage between not only nations but, all too often, within their own borders. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Folks who are heavily invested in stereotypes of thuggish terrorists may balk at Loach's portrait of articulate IRA ideologues. But there is no denying his ferocious grip on our emotions. Barley is one tough and beautiful film. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: The Wind that Shakes the Barley is dense, brutal, with moments of shattering emotional power, and the cast performs with fierce conviction. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Refusing the standard flourishes of Irish wildness or lyricism, Loach has made a film for our moment, a time of bewildering internecine warfare. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A truly Irish tale, The Wind That Shakes the Barley demands some work from American audiences. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: ... Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley may be the most powerful look yet at the guerrilla-styled Irish rebellion against occupying British forces in 1920-22. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Raises hard questions about Ireland's uncanny ability to kneecap itself. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Gripping, powerful, heart-breaking. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: This is a classic example of [director Ken] Loach's work with his longtime screenwriting partner Paul Laverty, meaning that it blends colorful scenery with meticulously rendered sociology, straightforward family drama and tendentious political debate. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: The humanity that Loach and his compassionate screenwriter bring to their story prevents it from being another polemic about how the British screwed Ireland. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: ... you can feel the panic, rage and fear of the participants, and there's a rare sense in the movie of history being less recreated than relived. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: ... despite its length (over two hours) and some structural problems, it is an absorbing, worthwhile and often passionate movie. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Time Out: Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: A stirring lament for good human beings caught in the crossfire of history. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: This dramatization of Ireland's early struggles for independence falls short of a certain originality or flair. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: [The film] lacks the involving sweep of Loach's earlier historical-political yarn, Land and Freedom. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Director Ken Loach is full of astonishments. In this film, he stages raid and counter-raid, big gunfight and small, with stunning dynamism. Read more