"His astonishment was, that none of them had heard of the Tans and their dirty deeds in Ireland, a hell of a lot more has been swept under the carpet from then (sic)."

You don't know how true this is Ard, and films such as Loach's will hopefully open the eyes of the general populace in Britain to some of the oppression dished out in their name over the centuries (and still being in other parts of the world).

Where I lived in England we never even did our own history in our O level lessons (early 80's), our exam board preferring social and economic history of the eighteenth - 20th centuries (when we were robbed of our lands by the Acts of Enclosure - we've all suffered under the Norman yoke on these Islands).

There was no chance of finding out what happened in Ireland or any of the other places our predecessors stuck their oar into. Previous to secondary school, our history lessons pedalled the same old tripe. Cromwell was portrayed as a crusader of justice and defender of the common man, and the Empire was a force for good that never did any wrong etc.

All complete twaddle of course, but that's the way we were brought up. When IRA bombs were going off in the city I lived near people were scared witless - there was no way of questioning the reason why this was happening - of the cause and effect so to speak.

I know plenty of people who still hold strong views about the various protagonists in The Troubles which have not changed for decades because we were never given a different point of view. Just look at the reaction in the British press to the film and you will see what I mean - no attempt to see another side of the coin, to address the core issues because it was seen to be almost traitorous to critisise 'our boys' over there.

Of course the situation is not that black and white as we all know now, but I find it disturbing that those involved in all sides of the conflict are still portrayed in such basic terms (interestingly, Loach has been critisised himself for portraying the British in the film as one-dimensional villans, which is an easy trap to fall into when represeting an enemy).

I consider myself lucky. I came to view the situation differently because I love Irish traditional music and wanted to play it. Gradually I became familiar with some of the arguments from the other side of the fence, and I can say now my view has changed dramatically. This is due to folk music (from all our Island's traditions), which carries an honesty and fundamental truth film makers would do well to learn from, and which enables anyone to see more than the one-sided black and white viewpoints that some would like to make us all accept.

stigWeard