Directed by Steve McQueen, Hunger is about Bobby Sands, a member of the IRA (and by the time of his death a member of parliament) who in 1977 was imprisoned in the notorious H-Block at Belfast's Maze Prison and in 1981 was one of the 10 people who starved themselves to death in protest against the treatment of Irish prisoners and the refusal of Margaret Thatcher to backdown.

The inmates at the Maze were involved in a protest against the British Government who had removed their status of special category prisoner (i.e. political prisoner) and therefore subject to ordinary prisoner regulations. A major point being prison uniforms which the prisoners at the Maze refused to wear because by doing so they would be conforming to the British view that they were just 'ordinary' criminals. This resulted in the 'blanket protest' in which the prisoners refused to wear clothes and was followed by the 'dirty protest' in which the prisoners refused to empty their slop buckets (through fear of being beaten every time they left their cells) and instead painted their cell walls with shit.

The film is a frank look inside of the Maze prison during these times and is an astonishing achievement in filmmaking. It has little traditional narrative structure and apart from a 17 minute section in the middle has very little dialogue. But it is absolutely full of amazing imagery and intense long shots, there is one scene where we watch a prison guard sweeping a piss soaked corridor for what seems like forever, no music, no dialogue, just a man sweeping piss from one end of the corridor to the other.

The first act is the longest as we are introduced to the horrors of what is normal life for everybody involved with the prison and opens with a prison guard at home soothing the pain in his hands caused from bruised and bleeding knuckles. We see him get ready for work and as his wife watches from the window he ducks underneath his car to check for bombs as we might check the iron is turned off before we leave the house in the morning. We are introduced to the prison by the way of a him and Davey, a new arrival at the prison, and their experiences give us our exposition. In grim detail and with little dialogue we get 40 mins of life in The Maze and the horrors that it involves including an incredibly brutal scene of prisoners being beaten.  Towards the end of act one we finally get to meet Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) as he is beaten by the guards they forcefully cut his hair and wash him.

The second act is a 17 minute continuous shot of Bobby Sands  and his priest, Father Moran (Liam Cunningham) in a scene that is nothing but dialogue as they sit facing each other across a table and discuss Bobby's motives for wanting to go on hunger strike. It has some wonderful dialogue too and surprisingly dwells little on the politics of situation. The final act is essentially just that, the final act of Bobby Sands in all it's brutal horror as we watch him, silently starve himself to death. If you thought that Christian Bale took method acting to new heights when dropping 62 pounds to play the haunted Reznek in 'The Machinist' then Michael Fassbender has broken through the ceiling in his portrayal of Sands, It is hard to watch.

Amazingly, and for me unexpectedly, this movie is not political, it is not trying to make a statement. It is a look at the people involved in this terrible chapter of Irish history, people on both sides and the effect that it had on their lives. From the prisoners to the guards, even the guy sweeping up piss and cleaning shit from the walls, these events effected everyone. It is a film of strong imagery and some of these images will live with me for a long time. A stunning film.