WIND SHAKES MAST D: Ken Loach w/ Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney. Ireland/UK/ Germany/Italy/Spain. 124 min. Thursday, September 7, 6 PM RYERSON Saturday, September 9, noon VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN) Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
The surprise unanimous choice for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, this archetypal tale of the growth of the IRA in the 1920s is built around the differing approaches of two brothers, giving this elemental potboiler Biblical resonance.
Murphy is the caring doctor whose complex political realism conflicts with his brother’s man-of-action simplicity. The clear-cut early villain is the occupying British army, thuggish and merciless. Its apparent defeat ironically leads to bloody civil war, stirring deep emotions on and off screen.
Even though the film telegraphs its punch, it’s still a knockout. And as Loach said when he accepted his prize: “Maybe if we tell the truth about the past, we tell the truth about the present.”
