The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
Drama, War • 2h 7m
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald, Mary O'Riordan, Laurence Barry, Damien Kearney, Frank Bourke, Myles Horgan, Martin Lucey, Aidan O'Hare, Shane Casey, John Crean, Máirtín de Cógáin, Keith Dunphy, Kieran Hegarty, Gerard Kearney, Shane Nott, Kevin O'Brien, Gary McCarthy, Tim O'Mahon, Graham Browne, Owen Buckley, Aidan Fitzpatrick, Vince Hannington, Denis Kelleher, Colin McClery, Finbar O'Mahon, John Quinlan, Peggy Lynch, Noel O'Donovan, Peter O'Mahoney, Barry Bourke, Frank O'Sullivan, Diarmuid Ó'Dálaigh, Corina Gough, Roger Allam, Sabrina Barry, William Ruane, Danny Riordan, Peg Crowley, Fiona Lawton, Kieran Aherne, Clare Dineen, Sean McGinley, Tomas OhEalaithe, Nora Lynch, Diarmuid Ní Mheachair, Denis Conway, Barry L. Looney, Connie O'Connail, Aine O'Connor, Francis O'Connor, Peadr O'Riada, Neil Brand, Tom Charnock, Alan Ready, Mark Wakeling, Antony Byrne, Anthony Mark Streeter, William Armstrong, Christopher Bown, Mark Bryce, Alex Dee, Jonny Holmes, Allan Huntley, Bill Hurst, Daniel Kington, Jamie Lomas, Anthony Martin, Owen McQuade, Richard Oldham, Colin Parry, Scott Peden, Bernie Sweeney, Derek Taylor, Neil Alan Taylor, Gregor Wood, Karl Dawson, Niall McCarthy, Siobhán McSweeney, Seamus Moynihan
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 9 months ago
Overview
In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
> BFI 4K Blu-ray. caps Criterion presents the master as originally graded in SDR whereas FiM added HDR / Dolby Vision for the BFI.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray's audio mix has more detail than BFI’s and same applies to the subtitles, covering both English and France spoken word
Director: Luis Buñuel
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
For Blu-ray Criterion Demy Set > StudioCanal
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Gaumont Blu-ray but no English subtitles: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Deux-sous-de-violettes-Blu-ray/288976/
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Caps for France vs Germany vs UK vs Turkish release https://slow.pics/c/jYBS2CWE not sure what the correct grading is but Germany release looks too dark
Director: Carol Reed
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Director: Martin Scorsese
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook
Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding
Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut
Director: Ken Loach
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Even though no screencap comparisons, given that Criterion is a 2K scan of Original Camera Negative, and supervised by Ken Loach, Criterion is likely the best.
Director: Ken Loach
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Olivier Assayas
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Encoding is clunky on both Arrow and Criterion BDs but Arrow at least included the original stereo mix in addition to the 5.1 remix, while Criterion only included the 5.1 remix.
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
review: Disk Kino
Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow
Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.
Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray announced for a November 25, 2026 release
Japanese audio: 2014 Japan "Hayao Miyazaki Collection" Studio Ghibli Blu-ray/US GKIDS Blu-ray
English dub (Disney): 1998 US Disney VHS has better sounding vocals despite altered music and sound effects, the US Disney LaserDisc has limited audio, and 2003 DVD is a fake 5.1 upmix
Releases from 2010 onward have the original music and sound effects, but distorted vocals
English dub (Streamline): 1996 Japan remastered LaserDisc, available in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection boxset
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Director: Martin Rosen
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
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