Hunger (2008)

Hunger

Directed by: Steve McQueen

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Brian Milligan, Liam Mahon, and Stuart Graham

Released: 2008

Country of Origin: UK/Ireland

Runtime: 96 min.

I have some problems with overtly political films, most of the time I just don't care. I know I sound like a jerk, or just purposefully ignorant, but most of the time I feel far too preached at. It's a little annoying, and often the political message will take precedence over the film itself. This year's Machete is a prime example, it tried so hard to shove it's opinion on immigration down your throat, that I got irritated and my enjoyment of the film was diminished. It's too bad, because if you were to strip away that agenda, it would've been one hell of a fun ride. This does not have anything to do with my own personal beliefs, I am equally pissed off at films that try to bash me over the head with beliefs and viewpoints I already have. I also don't have a problem with someone making a film that communicates something they are passionate about, but there is a way you can do that without bashing your audience over the head with your doctrine. So, many kudos to British filmmaker Steve McQueen, for providing the perfect example of how to make a film about a very political situation and create a work that is artistically beautiful, crushingly brutal and completely accessible and impactful to a very uninformed viewer.

Centering around the 1981 Irish hunger strike that took the lives of ten IRA prisoners, Steve McQueen takes a politically explosive event and crafts a film that is less about the reasons and more about the determination and endurance of the human spirit. Minimal information is given on what led to these protests, a few radio broadcasts are heard which have Margaret Thatcher denouncing the political status of prisoners in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison but that's about it. Extensive knowledge isn't all that necessary however, I went into this film knowing only that this was a prison movie about a hunger strike. I know only a slight fraction of what went on during that time in Ireland, but the film lost none of it's unsettling power and I found myself emotionally moved without knowing which side of this conflict was more "right" than the other. McQueen took great care to make this film as non-political as he possibly could. It's quite clear whose side McQueen is on, yet he strives to neither idolize nor denounce either party.

Hunger has three clear narrative threads, acting to round out the whole picture rather then focusing on the obvious center of this protest. The first follows a guard who is clearly conflicted yet bound by duty, it's a bleak, sympathetic look at the other side of the fence. The second act follows two inmates during the "blanket" and "no wash" portion of the protest. The film than slowly shifts it's focus to the final sequence which involves Bobby Sands, as he enacts the hunger strike and slowly starves to death. I don't mean to give away the ending, but it's not a surprise and every plot synopsis fully discloses this detail.

McQueen cut his teeth as a visual artist before working on his motion picture debut, which is evident in just about every aspect of this film. During the "blanket" and "no wash" protest, the prisoners have "decorated" the walls of their cells with fecal graffiti, and channel all their urine under their doors and out into the prison's halls. Oddly enough, the poop covered walls take on an element of abstract beauty, if you didn't know it was poop you could easily see certain portions of the walls hanging in an art gallery. One shot in particular stood out, where a guard, dressed up in a hazard suit, is spraying down the walls and comes across a cell where the inmate has made a giant circular patten in his own waste. It's strange, disgusting and weirdly elegant. The sparse dialogue throughout the film creates a hypnotizing ambiance that makes the endless brutality and mistreatment of the prisoners, a very hard to watch and emotional experience. The only real conversation is found halfway through the film, a 26 minute talk, mostly shot in one take, between Bobby Sands and a priest. It's the centerpiece for the film, debating at length the realistic and practical ramifications of a hunger strike. It perfectly captures the unflinching determination of political loyalists without once mentioning the reasons for their actions. It's also one of the most amazing scenes I've seen all year.

FINAL VERDICT: I consider this a definite must see. It's deeply unsettling but an ultimately rich and rewarding film. It's far less something you watch, as it is something you experience. So, be warned this is not for the faint of heart, but it's still a film I think needs be seen. I'm very interested to see what Steve McQueen has in store for the future, as Hunger makes him a directorial force to be reckoned with.