British director Ken Loach raises his fist in triumph next to French actress Emmanuelle Beart
© AFP Valery Hache

CANNES, France (AFP) - Loach, whose film "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" was his eighth Cannes nomination, acknowledged the movie about the early days of Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain was a critique of today's war in Iraq.

The controversial director, who celebrates his 70th birthday next month, is known for his uncompromising films focusing on the harsh realities of life for the world's oppressed and forgotten in a career spanning some four decades.

His film stars newcomer Cillian Murphy as a young doctor who in 1920 abandons his plans to study in a London hospital to join his brother's rag-tag band of guerrillas fighting the ruthless British forces.

(L-R) Yohana Cobo, Blanca Portillo, Lola Duenas, Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura pose with French actor Jean Rochefort
© AFP Valery Hache

The film is brutal in its portrayal of the violence meted out by Britain's Black and Tans, the colloquial name for an irregular force of mostly former soldiers brought in by the British government after 1918 to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary in pacifying the countryside.

But the film also unflinchingly shows what happens when an unpopular peace treaty which pledges allegiance to the British crown tears the brothers apart.

Its triumph was a surprise decision by the jury, headed by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai. Critics had widely tipped "Volver" by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar for the top honour.

Wong said the jury had been looking for films which "reflected compassion hope, bonding and solidarity" while fellow jury member Helena Bonham Carter said viewing five films which dealt with war had taken an emotional toll.

French actor Jamel Debbouze (L) is congratulated by director Rachid Bouchareb
© AFP Valery Hache

A delighted Loach thanked the jury, saying: "Our film is a little, a very little step in the British confronting their imperialist history. And maybe if we tell the truth about the past, maybe we tell the truth about the present."

In a night of surprises, the jury awarded the prize for best actress to the entire female cast of "Volver", led by actress Penelope Cruz.

She gave a stunning performance in the beautifully told tale of women and motherhood, which also won Almodovar the best screenplay award.

In another unusual decision, the jury awarded a collective prize for best actor to the cast of "Days of Glory" by French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb for his unprecedented look at soldiers from France's North African colonies who fought in World War II.

The runner-up taking the Grand Prix was "Flanders", French filmmaker Bruno Dumont's stark portrayal of the brutalising effect of war on a young farmer who goes off to fight in a conflict, which the audience takes to be in Iraq.

"There has been a lot of violence, a lot of brutality. We've had to enter very bleak landscapes, intently bleak landscapes," added Bonham Carter.

Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu poses with his wife
© AFP Pascal Guyot

But she added Loach's film was "intensely and viscerally moving", saying: "Not only was it a fantastic, intellectual education about the Irish problem, but it was also emotionally educative, because ... it led me to believe how somebody could kill his own brother.

"For me it had tremendous humanity, quite apart from being such a masterful film."

Palestinian director Elia Suleiman said the jury had not decided to award prizes to films dealing with certain topics, but rather had looked at how the story was told.

"I think what is interesting about the films in this competition is that a lot of them are engaged with the issues of the world today. I don't think it's by accident. We are living in a troubled global atmosphere," he said.

It was a good night for Britain, with Andrea Arnold taking the Jury Prize for her nervy first feature "Red Road."

Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu walked off with best director's prize for "Babel", a modern tale of miscommunication, which had also been a hot favourite for the top prize.

(From L) French actors Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Jamel Debbouze and Bernard Blancan surround director Rachid Bouchareb (2ndL) and producer Jean Brehat (back)
© AFP Eric Estrade

Shot in four languages, it traces the interlocking stories of four families whose lives are changed forever by a dangerous childish prank.

US contenders however, whose films had widely been seen as disappointing, including Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette", left town empty-handed.

In interviews earlier in the festival, Loach was unapologetic for the shocking scenes of brutality and torture in his film.

"We should be shocked by that, because all too often it's presented that we don't torture people, it's always the foreigners who torture people and it's not true," he told AFP, pointing to recent abuses by British and US troops in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

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