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Film rating: 5/5
Walkouts: 1/5
Pretentious clapping at credits: 3/5
BPM sighting: No
In 1981 Bobby Sands, an Irish Republican, starved himself to death as a protest against the British government. He died painfully and – in the eyes of the IRA – as a martyr. Hunger unrelentingly depicts the last months of his life in Belfast’s Maze prison, where the motives and moralities of Bobby and the other prisoners are not only a representation of the troubles of the time, they are the heart of it.
Hunger is the first feature film from visual artist Steve McQueen, who shows his hand here as a new force in cinema.
This was a stunningly atmospheric and emotional portrait of Northern Ireland in the middle of “the troubles”. Absolutely flawless acting, inspired direction, and brilliant cinematography combined to shake the viewer to the bone. Much of the story was told with little dialogue and through the visual depiction of both the mundane and the unusual. There was scant focus on the main character until about halfway through the film which allowed the story’s context to be fully developed.
Then the dialogue happened. In the lead up to the climactic scenes there is an intense twenty minute conversation between two characters in an empty room, at least 90% of which was shot in a single take and with a static camera. It was a powerful and jaw-dropping sequence.
By the end of the film I was repulsed, angry and inspired in equal measure.
