Loach dismisses 'anti-British' label on award-winning film

30/05/2006 - 16:25:58
Director Ken Loach has dismissed claims his award-winning film 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' is anti-British.

Rather, he says he could have shown things that were much worse than are actually in the film.

He also said accusations that his film could be seen as a recruiting tract for the IRA were "a cheap shot" and "barely worth answering".

The film, told entirely from the perspective of its Irish characters, shows British soldiers to be indiscriminately violent.

Ken Loach, however, said this was a true depiction of how the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries behaved.

The film, about Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain in the 1920s, has just won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.