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LAND AND FREEDOM Spanish and English, downloading a subtitles program a good idea. Land and Freedom, British director Ken Loach's film about the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, says something quite different. It says that the present state of affairs was not inevitable, and that the working class is capable of uplifting and liberating itself. It says further that the cause of the failure of the Soviet Union lay not with socialism, but Stalinism. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CATHY COME HOME KenLoach's powerful docudrama dealing with a young family's descent into homelessness. Ray Brooks and Carol White star in one of the 60s most important and enduring TV plays If a film's value is measured by its impact on the real world then Cathy Come Home surely ranks among the most important British works ever. First broadcast by the BBC in 1966, it was pivotal in the launch of the housing charity Shelter and instrumental in changing the law regarding homelessness. Directed by Loach before he made the transition from TV to cinema, it's as polemical as anything he's done. However it's also a fine piece of drama, powerfully written by Jeremy Sandford and skilfully acted by Carol White and Ray Brooks. Shot in the style of a rough and ready documentary, it follows Cathy (White) as she arrives in London and sets up home with Reg (Brooks). With a baby on the way, money is tight, then an accident costs Reg his job. It's the first in a series of calamities that sets the family on an inexorable slide into homelessness. Temporary accommodation gives way to a caravan site, the caravan is torched, they're pushed from pillar to post by unsympathetic bureaucrats implementing outdated legislation and eventually the family is split up - possibly, the conclusion suggests, for good. The film is swift but densely packed, and Loach adopts whatever style best suits a scene. So, there's genuine documentary footage shot on the estates of London and Birmingham, heated exchanges between Cathy and the authorities and voiceovers providing statistics and context. Importantly, no individual or single set of circumstances is blamed for Cathy's plight - she's merely the victim of a system that cannot cope. Equally importantly the issues never eclipse the human drama and Sandford's script is full of lively exchanges and interesting incidental characters. Seen by a quarter of all Britons at the time of its broadcast, this is a powerful but also easily digestible social issues drama and perhaps the saddest aspect of the film is its clear and continued relevance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY Ireland 1920: workers from field and country unite to form volunteer guerrilla armies to face the ruthless "Black and Tan" squads that are being shipped from Britain to block Ireland's bid for independence. Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country, Damien abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother, Teddy, in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. As the freedom fighters' bold tactics bring the British to 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 as sworn enemies, putting their loyalties to the ultimate test.