Two brothers live in County Cork: the oldest, Teddy, is involved with the Irish Republican Army while Damien is to sail to England to finish his medical training.
After witnessing unprovoked assaults by the British "Black and Tan" Specials, Damien becomes a fighter ultimately confronting the reality of war when he has to execute a childhood friend who had been coerced into betraying the battalion to the British.
A truce leads to a treaty but it divides the country: Teddy sees it as a 'road map' to peace but Damien sees it as a betrayal.
Loach's film is a wonderfully-acted classic of a community at war with outsiders and itself.
Shelf or charity shop? A tragic tale beautifully told... one to own albeit in DVD limbo, kept in a paper sleeve in a plastic storage box!
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