Hunger (2008)

Hunger (2008)

This is arguably the most intense viewing experience I've had all year. The film is generally about IRA leader Bobby Sands' 1981 hunger strike while being held at Maze Prison, an attempt to coerce the British Government into recognizing arrested IRA members as political prisoners (the film ends with a notification that the British Government never gave them back the "political" designation, but did grant them most of the privileges that that status conferred).

Michael Fassbender (you saw him most recently as Archie the British Film Critic/Commando in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds) plays Bobby Sands. For the first third of the film though, you'll only see him once, and you won't be able to recognize him thanks to a hefty amount of facial hair (in fact, because of the 'no shave' policy enacted by the prisoners, they all grow incredible beards). Instead, the first third focuses on Davey and Gerry, two other inmates, which depict the nature of the Irish prisoners' existence in the prison. And it's a pretty rough time. The first time you see the interior of a cell, you assume that they've done a very bad brown paint job (I've been an interior painter, I can comment). And then you realize that it's textured, and then you realize that that ain't paint. If that wasn't enough, the film is pretty explicit, and even shows Gerry smearing his feces on the wall.

Luckily, after a third of the movie has passed, the guards shear the prisoners so we get to see Fassbender's face (he remains a lot less hairy for the rest of the movie) and the focus shifts to him. Then the movie switches into the IRA political message, including a 17-minute unbroken shot (the longest ever for mainstream cinema) between Fassbender and Liam Cunningham's (The Wind that Shakes the Barley) cynical Priest character. Everything they're saying is interesting, and you have to watch the 17-minute conversation to truly understand what it means that this is all one shot, but the movie is never at it's best when it's talking about things. In fact, had the whole scene with the priest (who is a fantastic character) not existed, the film wouldn't have any open reasoning for "Why the IRA do what the IRA do." I'm not sure it would've been missed. There are enough films out there (Bloody Sunday, In the Name of the Father, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Michael Collins to name a few) and others to know what the IRA goal was.

Where the film really excells is in the depictions of the events that occur. Nearly every interaction between guards and prisoners is a rough, emotional affair. At one point, they call in the riot cops while they do anal and oral exams (same gloves, oral comes second), which is incredibly difficult to watch. So too is Fassbender as the hunger strike starts and his body begins to digest itself (which occupies the final third of the film).

Hunger passed almost unnoticed here in the States, although I'm told from my friend Shane that it did not do anything close to that in Ireland proper (both the Republic of and Northern). However, it's now out on DVD, so I suggest you add it to your Netflix.

Directed by Steve McQueen (no, not the Steve McQueen), Written by Enda Walsh and McQueen, Starring Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham.