Автор: Mark Daniell

Though it hasn't officially been declared the most political TIFF yet, it seems fitting that in a week where Hollywood saw fit to unspool a variety of politically themed flicks, Tinseltown's biggest outsider—Ken Loach—tapped Cillian Murphy—one of the industry's rising stars—to topline his volatile The Wind That Shakes The Barley.

With a gaggle of fans cluttering the lobby below, up on the 46th floor of a suite overlooking Bloor Street, 30-year-old Murphy (Batman Begins, Red Eye, 28 Days Later...) says the Palme d'Or-winning film taught him a lot as an actor, but it also taught him a lot of his own Irish history.

"Diversity has always been important to me and the actors that I admire are the ones that pop up in things that you don't expect," he says, his steely blue eyes lighting up. "But any actor worth their salt is going to want to work with Ken Loach. And 'cause I'm from the area (Murphy hails from Cork, Ireland), I felt a sense of responsibility to the story and to the people."

Opening in 1920, Barley tells the unflinching tale of a group of Irishmen who formed guerrilla armies to square off against the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads that were being imported from Britain to quash Ireland's bid for independence.

Forced by a deep love for his country, Damien (played by Murphy) gives up a promising medical career at a London hospital to take up arms with his brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney), and fight for freedom.

"The film did make me think about how extraordinary these people were. They were these incredibly passionate and committed people who effectively, with no military training, brought the British army to its knees in Cork."

Shooting the picture also got Murphy thinking about his own family history.

"I always knew that there was a distant cousin of mine who had been shot and killed by the 'Black and Tans,'" he recalls distantly. "And I found out after that my father's father had also been shot at by the 'Black and Tans.'"

"It's only really two generations ago, so everyone in Cork has stories or knows someone who was touched directly by it."

"I became more aware of the complexities of Irish history and how complicated it was and how a lot of it is not dealt with in great detail in the curriculum at Irish schools, and not dealt with at all within British history."

Lauding Loach's technique of filming his movies chronologically, Murphy said it was a deeply affecting experience to shoot the picture in a way that not even he knew how it would turn out.

"You know, it's the way every film should be done," he says. "(Shooting) chronologically, you know exactly where you are. You know as much as the character knows."

As the film unfolds, Damien and Teddy's leadership over a band of freedom fighters forces the British to negotiate a truce. But with the brothers split on whether or not to accept Britain's terms of surrender, civil war erupts, pitting friends and allies against one another in a deadly battle.

"Ken's films have always been a mix of the human and the political," Murphy says. "So you can look at this film as a story of two brothers, two ordinary guys who find themselves in this extraordinary situation, and how they deal with it and the choices that they have to make. Also, though, you're kind of gently nudged into thinking about how that reflects today. How that conflict parallels what's going on today."

"That's the whole point. It's not prescriptive. People can take what they want from it."

"I mean obviously this has a different appeal than some of my other films, but I've had the luck to be able to stand behind every film I've made and say, 'I really believe this is a good piece of cinema.'"

And debuting the film in North America here in Toronto was no accident.

"Canadians do have a slightly more balanced view than say some other neighbours," he chuckled.

With the film being targeted as anti-British overseas, Murphy dismisses inflammatory criticism, saying the film was meant to get people thinking and talking.

"There was a knee-jerk reaction in a lot of the right-wing, Murdoch press, but it got people talking," he said with a slight wave of his hand. "There's still a conflict there, but I think it's very encouraging that the IRA has disarmed. And now that they've sat down and started talking, there's progress being made. That's the ultimate thing in conflict resolution."

When asked about his hopes for peace in the region, though, Murphy let out a bit of a laugh.

"I can't answer that question," he said. "If I could answer that question I wouldn't be an actor; I'd be running the world."