The film focuses strongly on its historical narrative, with character motivations rooted in genuine personal, familial, and political conflict. While the story does emphasize anti-imperialist viewpoints, representation choices feel grounded in the setting, without ham-fisted identity politics or shoehorned diversity elements. Narrative comes first.

Traditional themes like family and religion are present but often used to highlight the tragedy of civil discord. There’s some critique of authority and established institutions, but this is largely contextualized within the Irish struggle for independence. Subversion of cultural values is minimal and doesn’t feel forced.

The primary viewpoint is anti-British imperialism, with limited nuanced representation of opposing perspectives. Dissenters tend to be backgrounded or simplified, so there's not much pluralism, though, to be fair, the film avoids cartoonish villainy for the most part.