History Film / TheWindThatShakesTheBarley

->''"It's easy to know what you are against, but quite another to know what you are for."''\\
-- '''Damien O'Donovan'''

* {{Fingore}}: The Black and Tans interrogate one of the Irish rebels by pulling out his fingernails one-by-one with a pair of wicked-looking pliers.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Sir John is presented wholly negatively as a cliched Irish Unionist stereotype (his depiction causing outrage amongst the community). However his predictions that the eventual Irish Free State independent of Britian will become an oppressive, backward, impoverished country dictated to by the Catholic church come 100% true.

* AllForNothing: the eventual 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty allows six counties (Northern Ireland) to remain part of Britain whilst the other 26 (the Irish Free State) are granted a slightly enhanced degree of independence within the British Empire. The pro-Treaty side argue this is the best deal available and a return to war with Britain will spell inevitable defeat, the anti-Treaty side decry it as nothing more than the Irish Parliamentary Party could have gained peacefully if they had accepted the same terms as part of 1912 Home Rule Bill. Civil war breaks out killing thousands.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Black-and-Tans. Though they're not particularly fascist, their methods are no less barbaric and cruel, staging revenge attacks for IRA atrocities. Even many British officers and King George were appalled with them at the time although others such as Winston Churchill supported them, citing the prior suffering of Irish Unionists at the hands of IRA. In World War 2 the Black and Tans would fight the actual Nazis whilst the IRA would support them and even shelter their war criminals afterwards.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Black-and-Tans. Though they're not particularly fascist, their methods are no less barbaric and cruel. Even many British officers and King George were appalled with them at the time.

The violent guerrilla tactics of the IRA eventually drive the British to the breaking point and a truce is declared, but when negotiations for peace between Ireland and Britain produce less than a full and united Irish Republic, the country is plunged into civil war, causing families who had fought side by side for a free Ireland to turn against one another as enemies.

A historical Irish film set in early 20th century Cork starring Creator/CillianMurphy, Creator/LiamCunningham and Pádraic Delaney, and directed by Creator/KenLoach. The film opens in [[TheTwenties 1920]]. Ireland is struggling to find its way out of the British Empire and become an independent nation. All over the country Irish men and women are uniting to resist the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads who have been sent to quell any thought of full-scale rebellion. Among those making a stand are Damien and Teddy O'Donovan, two brothers who, driven by love for their country, join the IRA in the hopes of driving the British out of their country.

A historical Irish film set in early 20th century Cork starring Creator/CillianMurphy, Creator/LiamCunningham and Pádraic Delaney, and directed by Creator/KenLoach. The film opens in 1920. Ireland is struggling to find its way out of the British Empire and become an independent nation. All over the country Irish men and women are uniting to resist the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads who have been sent to quell any thought of full-scale rebellion. Among those making a stand are Damien and Teddy O'Donovan, two brothers who, driven by love for their country, join the IRA in the hopes of driving the British out of their country.

* LaResistance: The IRA and later the Anti-Treaty IRA.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: But the film still clearly sympathizes with them over the thuggish Black and Tans and later the Free State, whose supporters are depicted turning a blind eye to exploitation of common people because they need funding from capitalists.

A historical Irish film set in early 20th century Cork starring Creator/CillianMurphy, Creator/LiamCunningham and Pádraic Delaney, and directed by Ken Loach. The film opens in 1920. Ireland is struggling to find its way out of the British Empire and become an independent nation. All over the country Irish men and women are uniting to resist the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads who have been sent to quell any thought of full-scale rebellion. Among those making a stand are Damien and Teddy O'Donovan, two brothers who, driven by love for their country, join the IRA in the hopes of driving the British out of their country.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film was mildly controversial (though still critically well-regarded) in Ireland because of what some historians called Loach's attempt to make a Spanish Civil War film set in Ireland. In real life, the IRA split over the immediate issue of the Treaty, not along left-/right-wing lines, and people of either political persuasion could be found on both sides - while it's true socialists were overwhelmingly anti-Treaty (seeing it as giving in to British imperialism), the "Irregulars" were dominated by conservative nationalists and devout Catholics like de Valera. And while the Free State did use repressive measures against former comrades, it also maintained the rule of law throughout the Thirties when much of Europe turned to fascism and ostracised many who did embrace fascism enthusiastically.