Time: 96 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – contains nudity, content that may disturb
Cast:
Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands
Liam Cunningham as Father Dominic Moran
Director: Steve McQueen

Focusing on the 1981 hunger strikes by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Bobby Sands is one of a group of prisoners who first “took to the blanket” with a “dirty protest” in pursuit of their claims for recognition as political prisoners. Sands then became the first one of the group to embark on a hunger strike that was to end in his death.

I didn’t know much about Hunger going in, I just knew that it was director Steve McQueen’s first movie and the first of the three collaborations he’s had with Michael Fassbender. It’s a great movie, if hard to watch.

Hunger is a thought provoking story and portrait of dehumanisation, and it is a harrowing and brutal viewing considering the subject matter. It’s based on a true story about the 1981 hunger strikes in Ireland led by Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), I got the feeling that I needed to know more about the context surrounding the events to fully understand what was happening. The movie doesn’t feed you exposition to explain everything, in fact there isn’t a ton of dialogue in the movie. The exception is one section halfway through the movie in which it focuses on a conversation between Bobby and a priest played by Liam Cunningham. It lasts around 20 minutes long and its fantastic and riveting to watch. It’s excellently performed, well written, and a good 17 minutes of it are in a single take. On the whole though, the movie is largely silent.

The acting is great from everyone, but the highlight of the movie would be Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands. He only shows up close to halfway into the movie but delivers a committed performance which sticks with you, one of his best.

This is an excellent debut film from Steve McQueen, it’s incredibly strong on a technical front. The visuals speak for themselves and help to tell the story over the dialog. They really did well at showing the effects of the hunger strike on the body, and the brutal prison conditions are recreated. The cameras don’t hide from the gruelling truth at all, and are in the right place to tell you what you need to know. At the same time, the cinematography is hauntingly beautiful, and the use of long takes add a lot of impact, with the clearest example being the aforementioned 17 minute unbroken and unmoving take.

Hunger is gruelling to watch, but is great and very well made, and excellent directorial debut from Steve McQueen. The acting is also solid, with Michael Fassbender giving an especially fantastic performance.