Of course, to trace the grievances between Britain and Ireland, I am afraid that at least we need to go back to the invasion of Ireland by King Henry II of England in the 12th century, which opened up the hostility between the Celts and the Anglo-Saxons for nearly a thousand years. Since then, the British gradually eroded the territory and sovereignty of Ireland until the early nineteenth century, when the Kingdom of Ireland was officially incorporated into the British Empire. But from the mid-nineteenth century, Ireland's dissatisfaction with Britain finally exceeded the threshold, setting off the prelude to the Irish independence movement. In 1916, the Irish Volunteers (including the Republican Brotherhood and the National Army) launched a military operation by force in Dublin, known as the "Easter Rising" in history. Although the uprising was eventually crushed by the British army, it was an important milestone on the road to independence for the Republic of Ireland.
And "The Wind Blows the Wheat Waves" tells the story of the Irish people's continued struggle for independence after this.
The title of the film comes from a famous Irish ballad, which sings: "While soft the wind blew down the glen, and shook the golden barley...but harder still to bear the shame of foreign chains around us.”. From the beginning of "the gentle wind blowing across the valley, setting off golden waves of wheat", the magnificent scenery of the countryside, to the later "and even more intolerable for me, it is the chains of aliens", which is not only full of love for the motherland The love of the people, but also the extreme hatred of foreign invaders. Matching this song is the wanton abuse of Irish civilians by the British security team at the beginning of the film - a young man was beaten to death for not answering questions in English. As a result, an air of generosity full of resentment and tragicness erupted, setting the tone for the entire film.
After this layer of foreshadowing, it is easy to reminiscent of "Braveheart", but the fighters who resisted the British high-handed rule were changed from Scots to Irish. Of course, unlike Mel Gibson, director Ken Roach did not lead the film to the direction of an epic blockbuster, but continued his naturalistic aesthetic principles, which seemed very simple and realistic, without much artificial carving Mark of. Correspondingly, the depiction of the O'Donovan brothers, the protagonists in the film, is also dominated by line drawings, so although it is not as legendary as William Wallace in "Braveheart", it is very real. The artistic appeal is also not inferior.
Ken Roach is a director with left-wing tendencies. Most of his films focus on political or social issues, and his reflection and criticism of society are very sharp, and he is full of deep concern for the people at the bottom of society. In "The Wind Blows the Wheat Waves", we can clearly experience this. However, since the film is a historical theme, Roach has mastered the balance and has not made a positive or negative comment or comment on the choice of the character.
In the film, the differences between the O'Donovan brothers appeared twice, which can basically be seen as a microcosm of the Irish people's political views at that time. The first disagreement arose over the treatment of the rich. An old woman owed a wealthy businessman a large amount of usury. The rebel court ruled that the wealthy businessman lent money illegally, and had to compensate the woman for a sum of money. The younger brother Damian stood on the side of the court, advocating respect for the law and the system, and won the trust of the majority of the poor; while the older brother Teddy sided with the businessmen, on the grounds that the military supplies of the rebel army were financed by the businessmen. Come on, what did the Republicans use to fight the British. The result, of course, was unhappy.
The second disagreement occurred after the ceasefire of the Anglo-Irish war. In the treaty signed by the two countries, Ireland will establish a new "Irish Free State" with autonomy in customs, tariffs and diplomacy, but will still be "Dominion" The identity remains in the British Empire, and the government still needs to be loyal to the British royal family. This result is obviously dissatisfied with some people, including Damian, who hopes to continue the struggle to achieve full independence of Ireland. Teddy did not agree with his brother's proposition, and felt that it was absolutely impossible for Britain to agree to the establishment of a republic in Ireland under the current circumstances. Under such a different political concept, the two brothers finally turned against each other, and there was a fierce confrontation between the factions they belonged to. As a last resort, Teddy had no choice but to arrest Damian, and even commanded the shooting ceremony of his younger brother with tears. The differences in ideals eventually led to the tragedy of human relations between flesh and blood.
In fact, just like the brothers, after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Sinn Fein split into two factions, and the Irish Civil War broke out. The war trauma left by cannibalism still affects today. Irish society and politics. One more thing to say here, the United Kingdom is worthy of being an old-fashioned colonial empire. Everywhere you go, you always have to leave a tail for you to continue fighting within yourself, not only Ireland and Northern Ireland, but also India and Pakistan, Israel and the Middle East countries, and even The discord between Hong Kong and the mainland is now largely due to Britain.
"The Wind Blows the Wheat Waves" is a very cold and introverted work, unpretentious but contains deep meaning, quite the charm of "listening to thunder in a silent place". As Ken Roach said, movies should not be a tool for political propaganda, but an open-ended question. This film confronts the actions of Britain and Ireland during the Irish War of Independence in a small way. Whether it is the atrocities in the former's rule or the political confusion of the latter, they are presented without evasion. thinkers. Since the trauma caused by the war is so tragic, does both the country and the individual have the obligation and responsibility not to repeat the same mistakes?
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