ON DVD, Loach's Late in the Game Masterpiece The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Trailer from The Wind that Shakes the Barley


In 1920 County Cork, Ireland young men are engaged in a casual game of hurling. Afterwards, on the way home, they run into a regiment of "Black and Tans," an occupying force from England whose purpose is to curb any hint of Irish rebellion. The hurling match is thought to possibly be a violation of the law agains public meetings that might be a threat to British national security. The soldiers heavy-handedly interogate the young men and when one of the young men responds to a question in Gaelic rather than English he is arbitrarily killed.

The opening sequence of Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley sets a tone of disconcerting, senseless violence that bursts forth from the idylic Irish landscape roughly from the first IRA guerilla attacks in 1920 until the 1921 signing of the Anglo-Irish peace treaty that tried to have it both ways, giving Ireland a greater degree of Independence but allowing for Ireland to remain a part of the British Empire.

The opening sequence is the plot point that drives a medical studen named Damien (always excellent Cillian Murphy) to forego a London internship and stay in Ireland and fight for what he believes is a just cause. Before you know it, the young fellows are back on the old hurling fields this time training for battle.

Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty (a frequent collaborator with Loach) manage to present the narrative in such a way that it never settles into lazy politics. In some ways, it is a companion piece to Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima which also attempted to deal with issues of fate in a compact period of time.

The DVD has a couple of nice, streamlined features, most notably the calm, thoughtful commentary of Director Loach and Historical Advisor Donal O'Driscoll. The commentary is most valuable for putting the events in historical context. This is especially useful to audiences who may not be as familiar with the history covered by the film.
There is also a nice feaurette on Ken Loach which will help re-familiarize movie
buffs with this director's life and work.

Celebrating the Weird Film Career of Rudolf Nureyev

It is always a thrill to have a non-actor of great performing ability appear in a film. Martha Graham was briefly in a Gloria Swanson potboiler in 1919 called Male and Female. Baryshnikov (Nureyev's rival for most glamorous male of the 70's) made a splash and recieved an Oscar nomination for The Turning Point in 1977. Sam Shepard, at the time a counter culture playwright, made a strong impression in Days of Heaven in 1978. Baryshnikov and Shepard have each had a number of film roles (Shepard, ironically enough came close to being a film star and he has mostly given up writing to star in many junky Hollywood productions such as Swordfish and The Notebook.)

Consider then Nureyev whose film career is noteworthy for Valentino and Exposed. The former film garnered a fair amount of press at the time and the latter got less press and is much less know to film afficianados. Nureyev's performance in Valentino is an interesting one as there is constant tension between his physically graceful performing (he is even a convincing boxer in some of the early scenes) and his fairly stilted acting. His performance in Exposed is equally baroque. Both films are not available in official versions on DVD and it is likely that Valentino will get rolled out at some point in the near future.

The strangeness of Nureyev's prescence is what makes him electrifying. Indeed, he has the power of an unskilled actor in his few film performances (he is even charming in his performances on the Muppet Show!). Nureyev's intense and magical powers as a dancer were on display in the recent PBS production on his early life as a Ballet Star in Russia. It is hoped that PBS will follow this production up with a second act of Nureyev's Life.