English film director keeps focus on Ireland

KEN LOACH’S new film, which won the 2006 Palme d’Or in Cannes, has been described as British while simultaneously being condemned as anti-British.

In fact, as well as the subject material, the IRA’s struggle for independence, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, has many Irish connections. The title comes from a song by Robert Dwyer Joyce.

The scriptwriter was Paul Laverty and it was produced by Rebecca O’Brien. The film was shot mostly in west Cork using local people as extras and it stars Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney.