Cannes
(Reuters):
Ken
Loach's
new
film
on
the
1920
struggle
for
independence
from
Britain
in
rural
Ireland
teaches
lessons
on
conflicts
like
today's
war
in
Iraq,
the
director
said
as
he
showed
the
film
in
Cannes.
Loach,
who
has
sparked
controversy
with
his
political
films
before,
was
greeted
with
much
applause
as
he
showed
his
historic
tale
The
Wind
That
Shakes
the
Barley
during
the
competition
for
the
main
Palme
d'Or
prize
yesterday.
Loach
said
his
story
of
two
brothers
fighting
against
British
rule
some
90
years
ago
shed
light
on
a
conflict
that
was
not
much
talked
about
today,
but
which
could
help
explain
the
current
situation
in
Northern
Ireland
and
conflicts
elsewhere.
''I
think
a
story
of
a
struggle
for
independence
is
a
story
that
recurs
and
recurs
and
recurs
...
There
are
all
these
armies
of
occupation
somewhere
in
the
world,
being
resisted
by
the
people
they
are
occupying,''
Loach
told
reporters.
''I
don't
need
to
tell
anyone
where
the
British
now
unfortunately
and
illegally
have
an
army
occupation.
And
the
damage
and
the
casualties
and
the
brutalities
that
are
emerging
from
that,''
the
British
director
said
in
reference
to
the
US-led
war
in
Iraq.
''My
view
is
that
this
was
an
illegal
war
...
It's
an
appalling
scar
on
our
government's
record
and
clearly
on
the
American's.''
Loach
said
his
film
was
not
anti-British
but
showed
people
had
more
in
common
with
those
in
the
same
social
position
in
other
countries
than
with
those
at
the
top
of
their
own.
The
director
made
his
name
in
the
1960s
with
''Cathy
Come
Home'',
a
television
drama
about
homelessness
that
sparked
a
debate
that
contributed
to
a
change
in
Britain's
housing
laws.
The
Wind
That
Shakes
the
Barley
shows
the
metamorphosis
of
Damien
(Cillian
Murphy),
a
young
Irish
medical
student
who
has
won
a
place
in
London
to
train
as
a
doctor
but
who
decides
to
stay
in
Ireland
and
fight
for
his
country's
independence.
Damien,
his
brother
Teddy
(Padraic
Delaney)
and
their
group
of
friends
who
grew
up
in
the
Irish
countryside,
fight
British
soldiers
with
their
limited
means,
staging
ambushes
and
hold-ups.
The
young
men's
friendship
comes
to
the
test
over
the
1921
Anglo-Irish
treaty
and
the
mayhem
of
the
civil
war
waged
by
those
who
opposed
the
treaty
on
the
grounds
it
partitioned
the
country,
creating
Northern
Ireland.
Actor
Delaney
said
the
conflict's
legacy
was
still
visible
in
his
homeland
today
even
in
his
father's
backyard.
''I
can
still
go
home
nowadays
and
walk
through
some
of
my
father's
fields
...
and
see
graves
of
people
who
were
shot
by
the
Black
and
Tans,''
Delaney
said,
referring
to
the
British
forces
so-called
because
of
their
two-tone
uniforms.
The
Black
and
Tans
were
recruited
to
bolster
the
ranks
of
the
police
force
in
Ireland
as
anti-British
sentiment
grew.
''You
can
see
the
ruins
of
houses,
farm
houses
where
people
had
to
evacuate
because
of
fear
or
intimidation,''
he
said.
''The
ghosts
are
still
in
Ireland
and
still
do
haunt.''
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