Review Movies" Film | Cinema | Hunger | Steve McQueen | IRA | Stormont | Bobby Sands

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 30 October 2008

Michael Fassbender as IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands

Food for thought in powerful reminder of
Anglo-Irish conflict

HUNGER
Directed by Steve McQueen
Certificate 18

IT seems a world away.
The Maze prison in 1981 became the crucible into which hundreds of years of Anglo-Irish unrest was poured – yet with Stormont, the peace process and reconciliation, the permanent IRA ceasefire and the end of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, for younger viewers it may be hard to recall just how vicious the war in Ireland was. Watch this film and remind yourself.
Director Steve McQueen covers the 66 days of hunger strike by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands. The subject matter is grim – and he has not held back. Brutality is mingled with dirt. Cleverly fusing the human stories behind the protests and the wider political climate, McQueen plays the story with an even hand.
Perhaps the cleverest trick is the way we are led in one direction then, once in the midst of making assumptions we are comfortable with, McQueen ambushes us. In one scene, Sands is forcibly washed and has his hair cut.
You cannot help but feel pity for the inmate. Then, just as you are siding with the man standing up against authority, we are shown a scene in which the mother of a prison officer is brutally murdered.
Lead Michael Fassbender starved himself for this film. His portrayal of Sands is immense, as is the whole feeling of terror that stalked the dire corridors of The Maze.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

» Film Times
» Film Reviews
» Buy DVDs
» Rent DVDs