Director Kevin Loach adopts a minimalist’s approach to this film, opting for more traditional long shots rather than complex camera positions and effects. Whether this is due to budget constraints is of no consequence as Loach offers countless scenes depicting the stunning Irish landscape. This emphasis hints at the fact that Loach is using the lush, yet treacherous, terrain as a device, a metaphor, foreshadowing not only the fight with the English but the internal struggles ahead.
Writer Paul Laverty’s script, much like the classic tale of Scottish rebellion in Randall Wallace’s Braveheart, brings the underlying emotions of the oppressed to bear. Although it takes some time for foreigners to adapt to the accents and Gaelic dialect, the audience is still able to digest the essence of the script. This is due largely to the impressive performance of Cillian Murphy as Damien O’Donovan. Born in Douglas, Cork, Ireland, Murphy attacks the role with a guarded passion that permeates the story. As the rest of the supporting cast fades, it is Murphy who delivers and brings the audience a deeper understanding of these troubling times of social and political unrest.
“It’s easy to know what you are against, quite another to know what you are for. I think now I know, and it gives me strength.” (Damien O’Donovan)