Artist Steve McQueen directs his first feature film, Hunger - the true story of the 1981 IRA hunger strikes that took place at HM Prison Maze in Belfast and the events that occurred in the build up. (See the 10 Best Films About 'The Troubles' here)
Walking out of the cinema having watched Hunger you cannot help but feel slightly numb. It’s one of those films that resonates and lingers in the back of your mind, leaving you pondering its brutal and uncompromising subject matter.
Steve McQueen’s Directs a Powerful Drama
Artist Steve McQueen’s debut feature film is as experimental and minimalist as some of his artistic work, yet it lays bare the horrors behind the closed doors of the Maze Prison for all to see. It’s not trying to hide anything, just simply recounting what happened in the weeks leading up to the 1981 IRA hunger strikes in all their controversy and gruesome detail.
It doesn’t pull any punches or compensate for an audience that might not have been prepared for its directness, and it doesn’t care much for the squeamish. But there in lies its genius. This is not meant to be a film that makes the subject matter palatable nor comfortable. It is not meant to be Hollywood pop-corn fodder. It is raw, honest filmmaking in all its glory. It is an un-fabricated and brutal documentation of events that appears, on the surface, to be very simplistic (the direct one-word title suggests as much). There is even the notable absence of any real score and a significant lack of dialogue through much of the film. But make no mistake, this is a detailed and carefully prepared piece of cinema as you are ever likely to see.
Hunger Deserved A Wider Release
Released in cinemas toward the end of 2008, Hunger crept under the radar relatively un-noticed, showing at only 11 theatres across the UK at any one time (Box Office Mojo). Perhaps the perceived controversy of Hunger’s subject matter played a part in the lack of distribution. Although during a relatively peaceful time between Britain and Northern Ireland this seems unusual. This could be a contributing factor to the relatively low media coverage the film received. It is controversial in a retrospective sense and doesn't seem to suggest that we ought to compare the subject of religion, politics and personal sacrifice to today’s conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan, although this would have been an easy angle to explore.
Steve McQueen presents Hunger in a refreshing light. It isn’t a parable laden with the weight of the director’s political or moral opinion. Nor does it take sides and present any narrative bias or pleasing conclusion. We are left to make up our own minds as to what we think of the events that happened nearly 30 years ago and how, if at all, we relate them to today.
Cinema audiences are well versed in being able to forge clear relationships with a film’s main protagonists or antagonists, be it support or hatred for them. But Hunger offers us arguments on both sides of the fence. There are no clear boundaries between who is morally or ethically in the wrong. It is clear that everyone involved has his or her motives for their actions.
Unusual Narrative Structure
Initially, we follow Maze Prison guard Ray Lohan (played by Stuart Graham) as he commutes from quiet suburban life to the daily grind of working at the most high profile prison in Northern Ireland. We rarely hear Ray speak, aside from a brief scene in which he tells a joke to fellow guards in the staff mess room. This is the only glimpse of humanity inside a person that seems to be immersed in the ritualistic brutality performed upon Maze Prison’s inmates. He clearly struggles with the enormity of his job and we see his personal struggle conveyed through weary body language and quiet self reflection.
Hunger never attempts to build up any kind of central character in the first hour, flitting between characters; from the scared riot police officer brought in to deal with the rebelling prisoners, to Davey Gillen (Brin Milligan), Maze’s latest prisoner who joins the rest of H-Block on the blanket protests after refusing to wear prison clothing.
The blanket protest was initiated following the British government’s refusal to grant political status to Republican prisoners. Sharing a cell with Gerry Campbell (Liam McMahon) we see the conditions that the Republicans are living in. The dirty and no-wash protests are in full flow and a cell covered in human faeces, crawling with maggots and littered with uneaten food are what awaits Davey during his incarceration.
Read the 2nd Part of my Hunger DVD Review here
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