Well I've now watched both "the wind that shakes the barley" and "The Brylcreme boys".

The former certainly shows both the brutality of The British and of the Unionists (as I was warned and expected). It also displays the division of the Irish free state at the time. It shows the opposite view of the film Micheal Collins but in the same time frame. For this alone I'd recommend that they both be viewed.

Brylcreme Boys depicts the lesser Anglo-Irish animosity during the Second World War although still the underlying resentment of 20 years prior is still there. My father was in the RN in WWII and when docked in Northern Ireland would regularly take a bus trip across the border for a regular booze up albeit in civilian clothes yet well known by the locals to be British service. The movie has it's lighter moments and although Jean Butler was probably cast for her dancing instead of acting as a fan I'm glad to have the movie in my collection. A thank you to Todd for recommending it.

It's fortunate that I have both movies in my collection. I will be revisiting both again.