"The Wind That Shakes the Barley" derives its title from an Irish ballad, written by Robert Dwyer Joyce. It speaks of the terrible sorrows of conflict and war, of having to deal with the lost of your loved ones. The"barley" in the song title refers to the barley oats that the rebel fighters carried in their pockets as provision in the 1798 Irish rebellion, and the phenomena that barley often grows out of the thousands of unmarked graves of fallen Irish rebels.

Set during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, this Palme d'Or-winning film tells the story of two brothers, Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy (Padraic Delaney), who joins the IRA as guerrilla fighters with the desire of driving out the British occupation. As the fighting wears on, and with both sides inflicting heavy losses on one another, a truce is declared by the British Empire, fearing the escalating costs of the conflict.

The terms of the peace treaty, however, effectively puts Ireland under British control, much to the chagrin of the IRA. Desperate for peace, Teddy defects from the IRA, who are still adamant about breaking away from the British Empire at all costs and by all means, joining the Irish Free State together with many other defectors, setting the stage for a bloody conflict pitting Irishmen against Irishmen, and brother against brother.

More drama than action, the movie focuses on the mindless atrocities of war and how it affects the behaviour of the people embroiled in it. From the beginning, we see the reign of terror that the British soldiers impose on the Irish villagers, burning down villages, interrogating civilians and beating them up, making it easy to see why the IRA wants to drive them out so much.

The film starts out slowly, the first hour filled with dialogue interspersed with a few scenes of violence, portraying the British soldiers in a bad light. An exclamation point is reached in the juncture when the British declare a truce and the IRA is split over the new treaty. This is where things get lively. The films moves at a breakneck speed from then on, as Damien squares off against Teddy, part of the larger conflict between the IRA and its Irish Free State defectors.

Breaking away from the traditional formula of film-making, this is a sombre film laced with a serious message on war and violence. It then becomes apparent that any human being is capable of atrocities and not just the British, who were made out to be the villains from the onset. As the fighting intensifies between the two Irish factions, so does the hatred and violence. Friends quickly turned into enemies, their blood spilled in each other's hands, separated by a difference in ideological cause.

This film is a thought-provoking drama with modern repercussions for the present day. Despite its uneven pacing, it effectively portrays the unsavoury consequences of resorting to arms to resolve a conflict. It raises the question of how far one should go to further a cause he believes in, and what price to pay to carry out what seems to be right? In the world today where war and bloodshed is a constant drumbeat in the background, this film stands out as a piece that causes us to re-examine something that has already become an accepted, everyday occurrence.