★★★★ The Wind That Shakes the Barley

[Twinkletoes: 4.0, Gino: 4.0]

Twinkletoes says: 'I thought this film about the fight against the British in Ireland in the 1920's was technically fantastic. The performances were great, it looked great and it felt like they got the era just right. The story itself was heartbreaking. I'm not so sure it was the most even handed look at the conflict in Ireland, but ultimately this was an intimate film about a few individuals and not the history of Ireland. Taken on those terms I thought it was excellent.'

Gino says: 'I think I liked it slightly less than Twinkletoes, but I am feeling generous today. The film looks great. And what I admired most was that they didn't try to do too much or stage too many dramatic sequences or go too fast or have the musics take center stage or such pitfalls. This made for a very real-feeling period piece. One complaint I had was that the point at which the two brothers become at odds seemed too sudden to me. But all in all a very respectable piece of work.'