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Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2
Ireland, 1920s, IRA, Political, Complex Relationships, War, Brothers, Betrayal
I've seen a lot of depressing films that stay with me for days. Ordinary People has always been my #1 Tearjerker/Catharsis movie. There are psychological thrillers, like Memento and Seven, that have messed with my head for weeks, even. The Wind That Shakes The Barley, though, got to me in a very different way. It was heartbreaking and difficult, as war films usually are, but in a way that almost made me feel sick. I'm no expert on Irish history and politics but too much of what I was seeing reminded me of the tensions going on in the world today. Causes are plentiful--some just and others not. But they all have leaders and followers, the followers sometimes not quite understanding what they're doing. And I will never understand --no matter how hard I try-- how good, moralistic, wise human beings can be brainwashed overnight. Or "sell out" and "take the easy way out" for lack of moral strength or intelligence. Unfathomable.
I don't recommend this to everyone because it truly is upsetting. And real. Then and now, unfortunately.
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