Hunger- Film Review

Tonight I watched 'Hunger' on Film4. The film started at 11oClock and finished at 1am and I can safely say that it was worth staying up for. 'Hunger' is Steve McQueen's (not 'The Great Escape' star) debut directorial work. The film was made in 2008 and is about the 1981 hunger strike in Irish Prisons supporting the IRA or the INLA.

The first thing to say about this film is that it isn't for the light hearted. It's very violent and towards the end, very troubling. The majority of the film follows Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the leader of The Strikes as he starves himself until the very end of the film. The film is quite strange as Fassbender's character doesn't even appear until about halfway through the film. No one character is presented as a lead character, alot of the narrative just revolves around the horrific treatment of the prisoners before The Hunger Strike started.

*Bobby Sands & Father Dominic in the most famous shot.

The start of the film doesn't revolve around dialogue at all. Occasionally there may be a line said but not responded too, but other than this the film is just almost silent at the start. What I noticed from the film is that McQueen seems to have a certain goal for every scene, something he may want to highlight. One of the most significant scenes is that of Bobby Sands telling 'Father Dominic' (Liam Cunningham) about his plans to carry out a hunger strike. The whole conversation is about 20 minutes long known notably for an unbroken 17 minute shot*. The lack of cuts between shots forces the audience to concentrate on the conversation and take note of what the characters are saying. This is just an example of McQueen's technique. He may want to highlight a particular aspect of a scene so alot of the time dialogue or cuts aren't necessary but at other times they are heavily relied on. McQueen's style of filmaking is very unique and in my opinion brilliant.

Fassbender's characterisation is brilliant to say the least. Although his acting abilities are only really spread out in the second half of the film, he is a stand out character. Towards the end of the film the scenes start to get very harrowing with Fassbender's body being dangerously small. I'm pretty sure (and I hope) that he didnt method act this one because by the end of the film he was pretty much flat from the side. The scenes in which he's starving himself are very hard to watch. One in particular that really gripped me is a frantic moving camera over Sands lying in a prison ward bed. Superimposed over this shot are flocks of birds flying and the crackles of there wings makes it sound like Bobby Sand's bones are crumbling and his body is falling apart.

Steve McQueen & Michael Fassbender.

This film is really powerful and a fantastic debut and it makes me excited to see McQueen's next film 'Shame' which is out very very soon and also stars Fassbender.

Rating 8/10

Top Tip-The film is fantastic but extremely hard to watch. It may not be everyone's cup of tea.