Class-Conscious Cinema

Ken Loach is easily the most revered and reviled English filmmaker today. The model of a prophet without honor in his own country, Loach and his films are often praised around the world, only to be met with disdain at home. His most recent offering, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, tells the story of the Irish Republican uprising and subsequent civil war in the 1920s, and holds nothing back in its depiction of the brutality employed by the British forces. In Cannes, the film won the 2006 Palm D'Or. In Ireland, it became the highest grossing independent film of all time. Meanwhile in England, it prompted one Daily Mail headline to wonder, "Why Does Ken Loach Hate His Country So Much?"