Hunger
Steve McQueen | UK/Ireland | 2008
96 min

Hunger is about a man that starved himself to death for his principles. His name was Bobby Sands, and he was an IRA member whom the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher eulogized as ‘…a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life.’ In this meticulously crafted film, images play a crucial role and expository dialog is at the mercy of economy — yet there is a 17-minute conversation about morality, religion and politics between Bobby Sands and a visiting priest, all shot in one long take from a static camera, that is a touchstone of writing, acting and cinematography. Sound is also important to director Steve McQueen, who uses it most effectively in the wordless third act, as we watch actor Michael Fassender, playing Sands, gradually reduce to skeletal bones before our very eyes.

The British Government is depicted unsentimentally in Hunger, that while does not explicitly takes sides, uses the documented torture of the IRA prisoners by British jailers and the resolute conviction of Sands to elicit strong reactions from the viewer. The closing title card informs us that Bobby Sands, aged 27, died 66 days after he went on hunger strike, and 9 other IRA prisoners followed him to death.