Chichester Cinema at New Park
Hunger
Lending a savage intimacy to the spirit of Bobby Sands – the IRA radical who spearheaded the Irish prison strikes of 1981 – Hunger is a no-holds-barred immersion in human suffering. The film confines itself to the Maze Prison in County Down, where Sands (Michael Fassbender) is being held for the possession of firearms: upon greeting a newly appointed cellmate, he bitterly reveals that he has been sentenced to 12 years.
The film recounts the no-wash and blanket strikes within their surroundings as they spend their days in the sterile baby-yellow lock-ups and filthy walls. Even the panacea of religion offers no comfort and the centrepiece of the film, written by the director Steve McQueen and Irish playwright Edna Walsh.
The film received the Camera d’Or and a 10 minute standing ovation at Cannes, and is the most brilliant and controversial UK film of the year. The “sympathetic” portrait of an IRA striker will cause outrage and debate, but is also a timely piece of film making in the era of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
UK · 2008 · Steve McQueen · 90min
