Hunger - Effective Visual Filmmaking

A Look at Artist Steve McQueen's First Feature Film

Jul 16, 2009

Steve McQueen's first feature film as a director is a fantastic debut. Powerful and shocking, Hunger is one of the films of 2008.

Steve McQueen goes a long way to demonstrate the determination and resilience of H-Block’s inmates in his film Hunger, you can’t help but feel nauseous seeing the conditions they’re enduring, but a unity and sense of ‘we will do what we must’ prevails. They’re dehumanised but unbroken and go about each day with an air of acceptance.

Artistic Visualisation From Steve McQueen

Each frame is constructed beautifully by McQueen, whether lingering closely on Davey’s face as he leans a hand out of a barred cell window to get a feel of freedom or a simple close up of maggots wriggling across Gerry’s fingers as he sleeps. McQueen often focuses on the mundane, emphasising the day to day struggle that faces both prisoners and guards alike. This is perfectly demonstrated during one long continuous shot of a prison guard sweeping the corridor of H-Block after the prisoners have struck back at the guards by emptying their chamber pots in unison through their cell doors. It’s a brave shot due to its length but a powerful one nonetheless.

Michael Fassbender Immerses Himself in the Role of Bobby Sands

It’s not until we reach the halfway point that we meet Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), Commanding Officer of the IRA prisoners. After gaining no ground with the dirty and blanket protests it is Sands that makes the decision to instigate a new hunger strike, starting with himself the rest of H-Block will join him on the strike periodically. McQueen offers Sands’ reasoning for the hunger strike in a fantastic scene involving Father Moran (Liam Cunningham) who visits Sands in prison and attempts to talk him down from his inevitable self-sacrifice. Filmed in just one shot that lasts nearly twenty minutes the two go toe to toe in a brilliantly acted and wonderfully poignant scene. Sands eventually demonstrates his determination to go through with the strike regardless of the loss to both his parents, his young son and even the Republican cause. It’s a showcase for two fine actors and a scene that carries the message of what the 1981 hunger strikes meant to Republicans and in particular the martyrdom that followed the striking prisoners.

The latter third of the film is dedicated solely to Sands’ hunger strike as we see the gradual decline of the man in Maze’s prison hospital. It’s uncomfortable viewing, especially the physical deterioration, which Michael Fassbender prepared for with great commitment by shedding sufficient weight to take on the look of someone weeks into a hunger strike. It’s saddening to see the frailty of a man that was so powerful, as Father Moran complements him in the previous scene - “you’ve got a great engine on you, Bobby”. It’s a sad end to someone who in life was so inspirational to others (Sands won a seat in Parliament representing the Ulster Unionist Party whilst he was on hunger strike). A man who felt that the need of the many far outweighed the need of the few and laid down the ultimate sacrifice.

After winning the Carl Foreman Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1999 BAFTA’s Steve McQueen can rightly regard himself as one of the most talented British filmmakers of recent times. Hopefully this is the start of a burgeoning career as a director that will produce works of similar poignancy and intelligence. Hunger is one of the finest films of the last 12 months, a remarkable piece of work for a first time feature director and the sort of film that EVERYBODY should see.

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