Shake Hands with the Devil

The story unfolds in 1921 Dublin, during the Irish War of Independence. Guerrilla warfare, prison rescues, and reprisals define the tempo of everyday life, while leaders maneuver for a peace that may not fully satisfy all sides. The period is marked by political pressure, uneasy negotiations, and the looming possibility of a treaty that could redraw loyalties.

Dublin in 1921 is a city at the heart of the Irish War of Independence, where guerrilla ambushes, political tensions, and British patrols collide with daily life. The landscape shifts between crowded pubs, sea-front hideouts by the coast, and tense dockyards where exchanges and raids unfold. The city’s academic world—embodied by the College of Surgeons—persists alongside the brutal reality of conflict, shaping the characters' choices and fates.

🩸 Moral Dilemma

The film centers on a medical student pulled into a violent struggle, forced to balance healing duties with the pull of political allegiance. Each ambush, capture, and interrogation tests his ethics and sense of innocence. As violence escalates, the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurred.

💔 Loyalty Betrayal

Loyalty to friends, lovers, and a cause collides as leadership and orders clash with personal reluctance. Relationships are strained by danger, suspicion, and the pressure to choose sides. Betrayals and difficult choices culminate in consequences that reverberate beyond the individuals involved.

🧭 Human Cost

The human toll is shown not only in battles but in the personal costs—fear, hunger strikes, prisoner exchanges, and the deaths that punctuate the pursuit of peace. Civilians become casualties of a broader political conflict. The narrative emphasizes how ordinary lives bear the weight of strategic decisions.