Cunningham, Liam

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, this gripping drama by Ken Loach (Raining Stones) is set during the early days of the Irish Republican Army, when British occupation of the Irish radicalized many a citizen and caused some to take up arms. Cillian Murphy plays Damien, a medical student on his way to London when he witnesses a couple of atrocities committed by British troops. Instead of becoming a doctor, he turns into a leading and respected figure in an IRA division led by his brother, Teddy (Padraic Delaney). The film provides some fascinating historical insight into the nascent resistance movement as it was in 1920, and Loach brilliantly conveys the profound emotional transition young men had to make to become saboteurs and killers. Loach's realistic style is absolutely mesmerizing, with many scenes built around the dynamics of large groups: contentious meetings, torture sessions, battles, celebrations, and the like. One has the sense of history as a pool of energy, and one also develops a kind of Renoiresque appreciation for the fact that different people on opposing sides of a life-or-death issue have their reasons for believing what they believe. As the story moves along, subtle shifts in the perspectives of men and women who had once agreed to be absolute in their fight for freedom results in a tragic yet understandable schism among Irish patriots. The final half-hour of The Wind That Shakes the Barley says a lot about how the Irish, including people who had known one another all their lives, turned their wrath on one another for so many decades. This is an outstanding film, featuring the best performance yet by Murphy (Red Eye). --Tom Keogh

Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country Damien (Cillian Murphy) abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother Teddy in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. As the Irish freedom fighters bold tactics bring the British to a breaking point both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. But despite the apparent victory civil war erupts and families who fought side by side find themselves pitted against one another putting their loyalties to the ultimate test. System Requirements:Run Time: 127 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 796019802529 Manufacturer No: 80252

Attila

Prime Suspect 6 - The Last Witness

It's been 30 years of police work for Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison. She's older in some ways wiser still fighting the urge for a cigarette and still fighting the "men only" attitude of the force. Ripe for retirement in the eyes of some. Tennison is still up for a fight and she'll need all the energy she can muster when she takes on the darker forces of British government in search of a sadistic killer with a guilty past.Running Time: 208 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 026359227622

Helen Mirren returns in triumph to the role that brought her international stardom, British police inspector Jane Tennison, in the sixth series of Prime Suspect. Tennison finds herself being pressured to retire and responds by seizing a difficult homicide investigation: A young female Bosnian refugee has been tortured and murdered. As the trail begins to suggest connections to war atrocities in the Balkans, Tennison finds herself struggling with resistance from higher up, uncooperative and ambitious underlings, and deeply buried secrets. The strength of Prime Suspect has always been how it merges suspenseful detective work with an intricate grasp of police politics, and The Last Witness is no exception. The plot unfolds masterfully, the program is directed with striking visual style, and Mirren (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, Gosford Park) commands the screen. Her authority in this role, honed through five previous series, is unmatchable; the richness of the character--steely, sexy, obsessive, rash, cunning--makes Prime Suspect essential viewing. --Bret Fetzer

A Little Princess / The Secret Garden

Two of Frances Hodgson Burnett's most treasured children's novels come to the screen in wondrous adaptations. Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) directs A Little Princess, the magical story of a girl who uses her powers of imagination and zest for life to overcome hardships at a stern boarding school. And three lonely children are forever changed as they learn to trust each other while restoring and taking refuge in The Secret Garden. Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa) directs and Francis Ford Coppola executive produces a luminous film in which magic and hope bloom.

First Knight

Together Sean Connery Richard Gere Julia Ormond and Jerry Zucker the director of Ghost bring you a new vision of King Arthurs Camelot. A vision of breathtaking battles of heart-pounding courage of the undeniable love that brought an entire kingdom to its knees...and o