Cannes a film on Irish history also apply to war in Iraq?

RADICAL British filmmaker Ken Loach brought politics to the Cannes Film Festival yesterday when he used the showcasing of his new film, set around the Irish Civil War, to attack the Government over the Iraq conflict.

The Wind That Shakes The Barley is one of 20 films in competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Festival.

The movie, starring actors Cillian Murphy and Liam Cunningham, is said to be one of the most violent and controversial films made by the director of Kes, Poor Cow and Cathy Come Home.

The 69-year-old filmmaker told a press conference at the summer Festival that the film’s story applied to modern-day politics.

Loach, who is known as a political filmmaker, said: “I think the story of a struggle for independence is a story that reoccurs and reoccurs and reoccurs so it’s always a good time to tell that story.

“There are always armies of occupation somewhere in the world being resisted by the people they’re occupying, and I don’t need to tell anyone here where the British now illegally have an army of occupation, and the damage in casualties and brutality that is emerging from that.”

He said the history of the Irish civil war was not discussed in Britain adding: “It’s as though the Irish can’t stop fighting themselves, that’s how it’s presented.”

Loach, who made his comeback in the 1990s with the film Hidden Agenda, described by a Tory MP at the time as the ‘IRA’s entry at Cannes’, said the history of the Irish conflict was not seen as a ‘sexy subject’ in Britain but it was the ‘elephant in our living room.’

The film is expected to open across Europe but no buyers have yet been found in the US.

Loach joked: “If you could chuck a little note to George Bush and tell him you have just seen a wonderful film about republicans I think we would get the film in 3,000 screens.

But Batman Begins star Murphy, said: “The film means a lot. I’m tremendously proud. The way Ken works is that actors aren’t privy to the finished script so come on board on faith alone. I’m aware that this history touched my family in the past many years ago.”

Loach’s films have been selected for competition before, but he has not yet won the big prize.

The winner of the prestigious award is being announced on Sunday, May 28.