Films about the Irish Republican Army (Film Guide)

Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (films not included). Pages: 27. Chapters: The Crying Game, The Informer, In the Name of the Father, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Ryan's Daughter, The Devil's Own, Michael Collins, Hunger, Patriot Games, Fifty Dead Men Walking, The Jackal, Closing the Ring, List of films featuring the Irish Republican Army, The Dawning, Harry's Game, Cal, The General, The Boxer, Shake Hands with the Devil, Some Mother's Son, The Craic, A Prayer for the Dying, Borstal Boy, A Terrible Beauty, An Everlasting Piece, The Gentle Gunman, H3, The Informant. Excerpt: The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 Irish war drama film directed by Ken Loach, set during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) and the Irish Civil War (1922-1923). Written by long-time Loach collaborator Paul Laverty, this drama tells the story of two County Cork brothers, Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy O'Donovan (Pádraic Delaney), who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from the United Kingdom. It takes its title from the song "The Wind That Shakes the Barley". Widely praised, the film won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Loach's biggest box office success to date, the film did well around the world and set a record in Ireland as the highest-grossing Irish-made independent film ever. The film opens in 1920 as Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy), a young doctor, is about to leave Ireland to work in a London hospital. His brother Teddy (Pádraic Delaney) commands the local flying column of the Irish Republican Army. After a hurling match, Damien witnesses the fatal beating of his friend, Micheál Ó Súilleabháin, by British Black and Tans. Damien rebuffs his friends' entreaties to stay in Ireland and fight for independence from Britain, saying that the IRA is too outnumbered to win. As he is leaving town, Damien witnesses British soldiers beating a railway guard for refusing to allow the troops to board, as well as the subsequent resistance of the train driver (Liam Cunningham). Damien decides to stay and joins Teddy's IRA brigade. In retaliation for Micheál's murder, the brigade raids the local Royal Irish Constabulary barracks for guns, then uses them to assassinate four British Auxiliaries. In the aftermath, Anglo-Irish landowner Sir John Hamilton (Roger Allam) coerces one of his servants, IRA member Chris Reilly (John Crean), into passing information to the British Army Intelligence Corps. As a result, the entire brigade is taken prisoner. In their cell, Damien meets the train driver, Dan, a union org