Hunger (Criterion)
The Criterion Collection
With Hunger, British filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen has turned one of history’s most controversial acts of political defiance into a jarring, unforgettable cinematic experience. In Northern Ireland’s Maze prison in 1981, twenty-seven-year-old Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands went on a hunger strike to protest the British government’s refusal to recognize him and his fellow IRA inmates as political prisoners. McQueen dramatizes prison existence and Sands’s final days in a way that is purely experiential, even abstract, a succession of images full of both beauty and horror. Featuring an intense performance by Michael Fassbender, Hunger is an unflinching, transcendent depiction of what a human being is willing to endure to be heard.
Member Reviews
a brutally honest and at times hard to watch portrayal of Bobby Sands - YPlovesmovies
I have never seen a bad movie with Michael Fassbander - this is my 5th movie with him in it, and the man continues to astonish me with his amazing, raw performances!
Hunger was not any differently, and it was exceptionally well done and beautifully crafted by Steve McQueen.
If you know what to expect going in to this movie, you know just how horrifying and heart wrenching the second half of it will be.. a very heroic performance of a great hero!!A must see for those interested in Irish history! - LH2006CA
This documentary style gem is exciting and touching from start to end. If you are keen on Irish history, you should check out how well done and accurate this film is of Irish hunger strike resistance. Believable and heart-wrenching from beginning to end. A must see!!! (It also shows both sides of the conflict in a very fair manner).Rough and Tough - Craigan
The first act of Hunger begins within the rough and tough world of an Irish Prison where prisoners are thrown in feces covered cells and beat on for no apparent reason. What fallows is a long, beautifully shot, conversation between Michael Fassbender's character Bobby Sands, and a visiting priest. By the end of the conversation we learn of Sands intention to start a hunger strike which we follow him through during the final act of the film. This film is not for the faint of heart, the last third of the movie is one of the toughest things I've watched on screen, but Fassbender is brilliant and the film is shot beautifully. I am not totally familiar with the IRA and their fight in Ireland so I feel some of this films message was lost on me, but I was definitely able to see it for the successful film that is was.
Member Reviews
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a brutally honest and at times hard to watch portrayal of Bobby Sands - YPlovesmovies
I have never seen a bad movie with Michael Fassbander - this is my 5th movie with him in it, and the man continues to astonish me with his amazing, raw performances!
Hunger was not any differently, and it was exceptionally well done and beautifully crafted ...A must see for those interested in Irish history! - LH2006CA
This documentary style gem is exciting and touching from start to end. If you are keen on Irish history, you should check out how well done and accurate this film is of Irish hunger strike resistance. Believable and heart-wrenching from beginning to end. A ...Rough and Tough - Craigan
The first act of Hunger begins within the rough and tough world of an Irish Prison where prisoners are thrown in feces covered cells and beat on for no apparent reason. What fallows is a long, beautifully shot, conversation between Michael Fassbender's character ...