Wednesday 16th December 2009

Hunger

Director: Steve McQueen
Year: 2008
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham

The only things I knew about this movie before watching it were that there was a very long one-shot scene between a prisoner and a priest, it was made by an artist and it had something to do with Northern Ireland and the IRA.

That, in fact, sums the film up quite well. The story focuses on the prisons that IRA terrorists in Northern Ireland were sent to in the 1980s. It really feels as if there are two halves to this film. The first half shows the awful, grim conditions of these prisons whilst the second half focuses on Bobby Sands, an IRA member who (along with others) went on a hunger strike.

You really can tell that this film was made by an artist. The shots of everything are beautiful and feature detail you probably could never even imagine. The 17 minute one-shot is also incredibly well done, somehow managing to keep you totally engaged. The problem, however, lies in the narrative. There's no background to the story, so unless you know a fair bit about the history of Northern Ireland and the IRA you'll probably be totally lost. I knew enough for this to make sense, but still craved a little more explanation.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5