https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460989/?ref_=nv_sr_1This title is taken from the name of an Irish "Rebel Song" connected to the fight against British occupation. The story begins toward the end of that occupation, and continues into the Irish civil war between pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions. (The years between 1917-22 or so.) Eamon DeValera sent a team led by Michael Collins to negotiate after a truce was declared, but the treaty was agreed to under duress, with "immediate and terrible war" threatened to be prosecuted against Ireland if the proposed agreement was not approved by the Irish delegation. And so, it was no treaty at all. Collins and his team were put in an impossible situation. And internecine violence resulted. The Irish now had "The Irish Free State," but the country was still not yet independent. And even all these years later, the northern six counties remain in the U.K.
We viewers are not privy to the negotiation, only its effects upon those directly and seriously affected by the treaty. Brothers united against the British turn against each other amid the ensuing controversy. This is a film which makes it all quite real to you and me, all these years removed from what happened. The film is straightforward. There is no understatement about any of this. It became difficult to watch, though entirely mesmerizing.
LYRICS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley#Lyrics
