Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen makes his narrative feature-film debut with a harrowing recreation of the hunger strikes of the early '80s in the Maze Prison just outside of Belfast.
Based on a screenplay co-written by playwright Enda Walsh, Hunger is distinguished by McQueen's meticulous eye for detail and his steadfast refusal to paint characters as heroes, villains or martyrs.
Filmed in Northern Ireland, the story cuts betw
een figures on both sides of the bars, beginning with prison officer Raymond Lohan, who is part of the team in charge of the infamous H-Blocks.
He arrives at work to welcome new inmate Davey Gillen, who joins his republican brothers on the blanket and no-wash protest.
Davey shares a cell with fellow non-conformer Gerry Campbell, a claustrophobic room with excreta smeared on the walls, maggots wriggling in leftover food.
At Sunday Mass, we are introduced to H-Block's leader, Bobby Sands, who, after one particularly vicious encounter with the guards, resolves to starve himself to death, with other prisoners following suit.
Hunger is an impressionistic portrait of a time in history when 10 men effectively declared war against their own bodies as the ultimate act of defiance against the Thatcher government.
It's an immersive and disorientating piece of cinema, awash with haunting images.
Film of the year.
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