Hunger

Hunger relays the true story of the 1981 IRA hunger strike in Northern Ireland. Lead by Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), this was a strike carried out by the prisoners of the Maze prison in an effort to win political status. It dramatises the events in the prison in the six weeks leading up to Sands’ death.

We first meet a prison guard, preparing to leave for work. He checks under his car for bombs. He gets to work, where he beats prisoners before soaking his fleshy knuckles in water. We also meet a new IRA prisoner as he arrives at the prison, failing to win the battle to allow him to wear his own clothes, instead being labelled a “non-conforming prisoner”. His cellmate has smeared feces all over the wall of their cell, and we see their rebellion against the prison regime.

The rest of the film is focused on Sands and the effect the strike has on his body and mind. This is not for the faint-of-heart. I felt sick to my stomach more than once, watching what the prisoners endured at the hands of the guards, and also what they willingly put themselves through.

There is one especially notable scene here, in which Sands debates the morality of the hunger strike with a visiting priest. It’s shot in a single take, and lasts all of twenty-two minutes. It’s a wonderful (if long) scene with well-written dialogue, and both actors convey the humanity of their characters and the hopelessness of the situation so well through their words and actions.

Director Steve McQueen is apparently an artist first and foremost, and much of that comes through in his camera work. There is not much dialogue in the film, most of it being told in images and through the actors. This is a harrowing true story of human suffering and martyrdom. It’s brutal to watch and gutwrenchingly stark in the images it presents, but it’s unflinching and will stay with you for a long time.

(If you like, you can find out more about the hunger strike by visiting this page.)