The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ken Loache’s film about Ireland in 1919 and the unanimous winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, has been much criticized by the British press.

A “poisonously anti-British corruption of the history of the war of Irish independence … The Wind That Shakes the Barley is not just wrong. It infantilises its subject matter and reawakens ancient feuds.” Tim Luckhurst, The Times.

Loach “hates this country, yet leeches off it, using public funds to make his repulsive films. And no, I haven’t seen it, any more than I need to read Mein Kampf to know what a louse Hitler was.” Simon Heffer, The Telegraph.

It’s “a brutally anti-British film … designed to drag the reputation of our nation through the mud”. The Sun.

“Old-fashioned propaganda” and “a melange of half-truths”. Ruth Dudley Edwards, Daily Mail.

It helps to “legitimise the actions of gangsters”. Michael Gove, The Times.

Wonderful critics, on whom we depend to help formulate our opinions. None of them have seen the film.

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