Hunger (2008)

Director:

Steve McQueen

Writers:

Steve McQueen (written by)
Enda Walsh (writer)

Release Date:

2 October 2008 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

An odyssey, in which the smallest gestures become epic and when the body is the last resource for protest.

Plot:

The last six weeks of the life of the Irish republican hunger striker Bobby Sands.

Plot Keywords:

Hunger Strike | Ireland | Body | IRA | Prison

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 31 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Michael Fassbender	...	Bobby Sands
Stuart Graham	...	Ray Lohan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Helena Bereen	...	Ray's mother
Larry Cowan	...	Prison Guard
Liam Cunningham	...	Father Moran
Helen Madden	...	Mrs Sands
Des McAleer	...	Mr Sands
Dennis McCambridge	...	Beaten Prisoner
Liam McMahon	...	Gerry
Laine Megaw	...	Mrs. Lohan
Brian Milligan	...	Davey
Rory Mullen	...	Priest
Ben Peel	...	Stephen Graves - Prison guard
Lalor Roddy	...	William

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Australia:MA | France:-12 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16

Company:

Blast! Films

Trivia:

The second medical attendant (one with mustache) who takes care of Bobby Sands in the hospital, has a ''UDA'' tattoo on his left hand. UDA is shortening for Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "At the Movies: Summer Special 2008/09" (2008)

Visceral

Believe it or not my path only crossed with this film on a rainy day when Quantom of Solace was sold out at the multiplex. I was aware of the historical background to the Northern Irish Troubles and the notorious Maze prison, the last thing i was wanted to see on screen was a glorified Republican political point scoring exercise. Many newspapers and MPs had been jumping on the possibility of the film being portrayed as pro IRA. I can say now with confidence that they're assumptions could not be more wrong. Hunger, is a brutal, graphic and pragmatic interpretation of what the last 6 weeks for Bobby Sands were like, frankly, a desperate decision that led to a slow and painful death, all in aid of the cause.

My two favourite parts of this film, has to be priest trying to give mass and Bobby Sands conversation with the priest and my total surprise at the dialogue between characters. I was waiting the prisoners to settle down and soak up religion, in addition when Sands stated his intention to hunger strike, i expected the priest to bombard him with sentiment and morality. What we get instead is a perfect example of how far the conflict had become removed from freverent religious belief and proliferation of beliefs, the film focuses on the sole fact that it has come a war of extermination, the exact beginnings of which have long been forgotten in the mess and carnage of Republican and Loyalist campaigns.

With the conversation with the Father Moran, i found myself identifying with his character, trying his hardest to persuade a friend from taking his life, only using morality as his last strand of defence. He states all thing unseen consequences to a immovable Bobby Sands; radicalisation of the movement, the recruitment of the loyalist paramilitaries, throwing Northern Ireland into more years of bloodshed basically Sands was lighting the touch paper because he was disillusioned with the leadership, and I have to agree with Moran's characters conclusion that it was ego driving Sands on.

I left the cinema numb, unfeeling and depressed. It was a representation of a human beings last resort for rights or recognition. I would not consider this film to be pro anything, I consider it to be a realist interpretation of the last weeks of Bobby Sands.