IRELAND, UK, GERMANY, ITALY, SPAIN, FRANCE, SWITZERLAND 2006 – DCP – color – 127’

Direction: Ken Loach

Screenplay: Paul Laverty

Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd

Editing: Jonathan Morris

Set design: Fergus Clegg

Music: George Fenton

Costumes: Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh

Cast: Cillian Murphy (Damien O’Donovan), Pádraic Delaney (Teddy O’Donovan), Liam Cunningham (Dan), Orla Fitzgerald (Sinéad), Gerard Kearney (Donacha), William Ruane (Johnny Gogan), Fiona Lawton (Lily), Martin Lucey (Congo)

Producers: Rebecca O’Brien, Redmond Morris

Production: Sixteen Films, Pathé

SINOPSIS

Ireland, 1920. Damien O’Donovan is a promising doctor about to leave Ireland and move to London to work in a hospital. During a control operation by the British army, he witnesses the murder of a friend, which prompts him to stay in Ireland and fight for independence by joining his brother Teddy, a commander of the local column of the Irish Republican Army. The situation escalates as the British Army attempts to stop the revolt with increasingly violent actions. When Teddy is captured and tortured, Damien takes his place as head of the Irish colony. Eventually, a peace treaty is reached with the British, but the Irish people are divided between pacifists and extremists, leading to a civil war. At this juncture, Damien and Teddy find themselves on opposing sides.

Nota critica

“Ken Loach has made an excellent film, which refers on the one hand to Hidden Agenda (also dedicated to the Irish question), while on the other hand to Land and Freedom (revolving on the Spanish War). However, the latter was much more epic, and had a more original point of view. Here, Loach and his trusted screenwriter Paul Laverty work within a more well-known and now somewhat shared story. It is not by chance that Loach waited for the unilateral disarming of IRA to tell the story of the genesis of the Republican army, which before becoming a terrorist organization, we all remember was a popular insurgency force. (Alberto Crespi, L’Unità, 19 May 2006)

PREMI E FESTIVAL

2006 Cannes Film Festival – Competition: Palma d’Oro Golden Palm
2006 European Film Awards: Europeo Best European Cinematographer
2006 Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards: Best Foreign Film
2006 Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Irish Film
2007 Irish Film and Television Awards:  Actor in a Supporting Role (Pádraic Delaney), Audience Award

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