Hunger (2008 film)
Encyclopedia
Hunger is a 2008 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike
. It was written by Enda Walsh
and Steve R. McQueen
, who also directed. It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4
and Film4
. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or
award for first-time filmmakers. It went on to win the Sydney Film Prize at the Sydney Film Festival
, best picture from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
, and received 2 BAFTA
nominations, winning one. The film was also nominated for 8 awards at the 2009 IFTAs
, winning 6 at the event.
Hunger was turned down by the Irish Film Board
, but has gone on to be one of the most successful Irish films. The film was co-funded by Northern Ireland Screen, Broadcast Commission of Ireland, Film 4 and the Wales Creative IP Fund.
The film stars Michael Fassbender
as Bobby Sands
, the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA) volunteer who led the second IRA hunger strike 1981 Irish hunger strike
and participated in the no wash protest (led by Brendan "The Dark" Hughes
) in which Republican prisoners tried to regain political status when it was revoked by the British government in 1976. It dramatises events in the Maze prison in the period leading up to the hunger strike and Sands' death.
Davey Gillen, a new IRA
prisoner arrives and is shown being categorised as a "non-conforming prisoner" for his refusal to wear the prison uniform. He is sent to the cell naked with only a blanket. He arrives at his cell where his cellmate, Gerry (Liam McMahon
), has smeared the walls with faeces from floor to ceiling. The two men get to know each other and we see them living within the cell, and a visit by family members where we see Sands speak with his parents and the other inmates and their visitors passing messages across tables and through mouths. Gerry's girlfriend sneaks a radio in by wrapping it and keeping it in her vagina.
The prison regime is depicted with the prison officers forcibly and violently removing the prisoners from their cells and beating them before pinning them down and using scissors to brutally cut their long hair and beards, grown as part of their no wash protest. The prisoners resist Sands spiting into Lohan's face, who responds by punching him in the face and then swings again, only to miss and punch the wall, causing his knuckles to bleed. He cuts Sands' hair and beard, the men throw him in the bath tub and scrub him clean before hauling him away again. Lohan is then seen smoking a cigarette, as in the opening scenes, his hand bloodied.
Later, the prisoners are taken out of their cells and given 2nd hand especially garish civilian clothing. The guards are seen snickering as they are handed to the prisoners who respond, after Sands' initial action, by tearing up the clothes and wrecking their cells. For the next interaction with the prisoners a large number of riot officers are seen coming into the prison on a truck. They line up and beat their batons against their shields and scream to scare the prisoners, who are hauled from their cells, then thrown in between the lines of riot police where they are beaten with the batons by at least 10 men at one time. Lohan and several of his colleagues then probe first their anuses and then their mouths, using the same pair of latex gloves for each man. One prisoner head-butts a guard and is beaten brutally by a riot officer. One of the riot officers is seen crying while his colleagues, on the other side of the wall, brutally beat the prisoners with their batons.
Lohan visits his catatonic mother in the retirement home sitting and talking to her. He is shot in the back of the head by an IRA
assassin and dies slumped onto his mother's lap.
Sands is then shown meeting his priest Father Dom (Liam Cunningham) and discussing the morality of a hunger strike. This meeting is lengthy and addresses why Sands chose to do what he did and how strongly he believed in his cause. At the end Sands tells the priest about a trip to Donegal
where he and his friends find a foal by a stream who has cut itself on the rocks and broken its back legs, it is on the brink of death and none of the other boys will act. Sands then tells Father Dom that he drowned the foal and, although he got into trouble, he knew he had done the right thing by putting it out of its misery. He then says he know what he is doing and what it will do to him, but he says he will not stand by and do nothing. The rest of the film shows Sands well into his hunger strike, with bleeding sores all over his body, kidney failure, low blood pressure, stomach ulcers, and the inability to stand on his own by the end. The film spares no detail in Sands' condition and suffering, as we see him get worse and continue to refuse food. In the last days, while Sands lies in a bath, a larger orderly comes in to give his usual orderly a break. The larger orderly sits next to the tub and shows Sands his knuckles, which are tattooed with the letters "UDA
", Sands tries to stand on his own and eventually does so with all his strength, staring defiantly at the UDA orderly who refused to help him up, but then he crumbles in a heap on the floor with no strength left to stand. The orderly carries him to his room. Sands' parents stay for the final days, his mother being at his side when Sands dies.
The film explains that Sands had been elected to the British Parliament as MP
for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
while he was on strike. Nine other men died with him during the seven-month strike before it was called off. Shortly afterwards, the British government concede in one form or another virtually all of the prisoners' demands despite never officially granting political status.
out of his protest. In it, the camera remains in the same position for the duration of the shot. To prepare for the scene, Cunningham moved into Michael Fassbender
's apartment for a time while they practised the scene at least twelve times a day, sometimes repeating the scene fifteen times in a single day. It is the longest shot in a mainstream film.
The film premiered at Cannes, where it opened the official sidebar section, Un Certain Regard, sparking both walkouts and a standing ovation. The film was released in the UK and in Ireland 31 October 2008.
named it the 3rd best film of 2008 (along with Che
). Eric Armstrong of The Moving Arts Film Journal
gave a favorable review, calling the film "...a deeply disturbing sensory experience."
Hunger was voted the best film of 2008 by the British film magazine Sight & Sound
, and that year McQueen received the Discovery Award and $10,000 at the 33rd annual Toronto film festival. It also won in the best film category at the 2009 Evening Standard British Film Awards
. The film also was named the "Best Film of 2009" by the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, it shared the award with Quentin Tarantino
's Inglourious Basterds. Director McQueen won the Carl Forman BAFTA Award for "Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film".
The movie has a 7.6 point rating on the Internet Movie Database.
1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...
. It was written by Enda Walsh
Enda Walsh
Enda Walsh is an Irish playwright born in Dublin and currently living in London. Walsh attended the same secondary school where both Roddy Doyle and Paul Mercier taught. Having written for the Dublin Youth Theatre, he moved to Cork where he wrote Fishy Tales for the Graffiti Theatre Company,...
and Steve R. McQueen
Steve McQueen (artist)
Steve Rodney McQueen CBE is a British artist and filmmaker. He is a winner of the Golden Camera at the Cannes Film Festival, a Turner Prize and BAFTA.-Early years:...
, who also directed. It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and Film4
Film4
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films.-Programming:...
. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival
2008 Cannes Film Festival
The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 14 to May 25, 2008. In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.The British press...
, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or
Caméra d'Or
The Caméra d'Or is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections ....
award for first-time filmmakers. It went on to win the Sydney Film Prize at the Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
, best picture from the Evening Standard British Film Awards
Evening Standard British Film Awards
The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by the British London area evening newspaper Evening Standard. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony honours films from the previous...
, and received 2 BAFTA
62nd British Academy Film Awards
The 62nd British Academy Film Awards, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, took place on 8 February 2009, and honoured the best films of 2008.-Best Actor:Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler*Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon...
nominations, winning one. The film was also nominated for 8 awards at the 2009 IFTAs
Irish Film and Television Awards
The Irish Film and Television Awards were first awarded in 2003. Its sole aim is to celebrate Ireland's notably talented film and television community...
, winning 6 at the event.
Hunger was turned down by the Irish Film Board
Irish Film Board
The Irish Film Board is Ireland’s national film agency and major film funding body. It was recommended for abolition by the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes in 2009.-Formative years:...
, but has gone on to be one of the most successful Irish films. The film was co-funded by Northern Ireland Screen, Broadcast Commission of Ireland, Film 4 and the Wales Creative IP Fund.
The film stars Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender is an Irish-German actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class...
as Bobby Sands
Bobby Sands
Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
, the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(IRA) volunteer who led the second IRA hunger strike 1981 Irish hunger strike
1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...
and participated in the no wash protest (led by Brendan "The Dark" Hughes
Brendan Hughes
Brendan Hughes , also known as "The Dark", was an Irish republican and former Officer Commanding of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army...
) in which Republican prisoners tried to regain political status when it was revoked by the British government in 1976. It dramatises events in the Maze prison in the period leading up to the hunger strike and Sands' death.
Plot
The film opens with prison officer Raymond Lohan (played by Stuart Graham) preparing to leave for work; checking under his car for bombs, putting on his uniform in the locker room ignoring the camaraderie of his colleagues. There are short clips of Lohan at various points throughout the day and it is shown that his knuckles are bloodied and cut.Davey Gillen, a new IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
prisoner arrives and is shown being categorised as a "non-conforming prisoner" for his refusal to wear the prison uniform. He is sent to the cell naked with only a blanket. He arrives at his cell where his cellmate, Gerry (Liam McMahon
Liam McMahon
Liam McMahon is an Actor, born in Ireland. His work includes roles in Snatch , Living in Hope and Northanger AbbeyHis latest project is Hunger, which was directed by Steve McQueen and written by Enda Walsh. The film premiered in Cannes 2008, where it opened the official sidebar section, Un Certain...
), has smeared the walls with faeces from floor to ceiling. The two men get to know each other and we see them living within the cell, and a visit by family members where we see Sands speak with his parents and the other inmates and their visitors passing messages across tables and through mouths. Gerry's girlfriend sneaks a radio in by wrapping it and keeping it in her vagina.
The prison regime is depicted with the prison officers forcibly and violently removing the prisoners from their cells and beating them before pinning them down and using scissors to brutally cut their long hair and beards, grown as part of their no wash protest. The prisoners resist Sands spiting into Lohan's face, who responds by punching him in the face and then swings again, only to miss and punch the wall, causing his knuckles to bleed. He cuts Sands' hair and beard, the men throw him in the bath tub and scrub him clean before hauling him away again. Lohan is then seen smoking a cigarette, as in the opening scenes, his hand bloodied.
Later, the prisoners are taken out of their cells and given 2nd hand especially garish civilian clothing. The guards are seen snickering as they are handed to the prisoners who respond, after Sands' initial action, by tearing up the clothes and wrecking their cells. For the next interaction with the prisoners a large number of riot officers are seen coming into the prison on a truck. They line up and beat their batons against their shields and scream to scare the prisoners, who are hauled from their cells, then thrown in between the lines of riot police where they are beaten with the batons by at least 10 men at one time. Lohan and several of his colleagues then probe first their anuses and then their mouths, using the same pair of latex gloves for each man. One prisoner head-butts a guard and is beaten brutally by a riot officer. One of the riot officers is seen crying while his colleagues, on the other side of the wall, brutally beat the prisoners with their batons.
Lohan visits his catatonic mother in the retirement home sitting and talking to her. He is shot in the back of the head by an IRA
Ira
IRA most commonly refers to:*Irish Republican Army, which has existed in various forms since 1916**List of organisations known as the Irish Republican Army**Provisional Irish Republican Army...
assassin and dies slumped onto his mother's lap.
Sands is then shown meeting his priest Father Dom (Liam Cunningham) and discussing the morality of a hunger strike. This meeting is lengthy and addresses why Sands chose to do what he did and how strongly he believed in his cause. At the end Sands tells the priest about a trip to Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
where he and his friends find a foal by a stream who has cut itself on the rocks and broken its back legs, it is on the brink of death and none of the other boys will act. Sands then tells Father Dom that he drowned the foal and, although he got into trouble, he knew he had done the right thing by putting it out of its misery. He then says he know what he is doing and what it will do to him, but he says he will not stand by and do nothing. The rest of the film shows Sands well into his hunger strike, with bleeding sores all over his body, kidney failure, low blood pressure, stomach ulcers, and the inability to stand on his own by the end. The film spares no detail in Sands' condition and suffering, as we see him get worse and continue to refuse food. In the last days, while Sands lies in a bath, a larger orderly comes in to give his usual orderly a break. The larger orderly sits next to the tub and shows Sands his knuckles, which are tattooed with the letters "UDA
Uda
Uda can refer to:*Emperor Uda, Emperor of Japan*Uda, Nara, a city in Japan*Uda, a Japanese name*Shintaro Uda, inventor of the Yagi-Uda antenna*Uda , a breed of domestic sheep*Uda, a commune in Argeş County, Romania...
", Sands tries to stand on his own and eventually does so with all his strength, staring defiantly at the UDA orderly who refused to help him up, but then he crumbles in a heap on the floor with no strength left to stand. The orderly carries him to his room. Sands' parents stay for the final days, his mother being at his side when Sands dies.
The film explains that Sands had been elected to the British Parliament as MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)
Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a Parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons. The current MP for the constituency is Michelle Gildernew of Sinn Féin....
while he was on strike. Nine other men died with him during the seven-month strike before it was called off. Shortly afterwards, the British government concede in one form or another virtually all of the prisoners' demands despite never officially granting political status.
Cast
- Michael FassbenderMichael FassbenderMichael Fassbender is an Irish-German actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class...
as Bobby Sands - Liam Cunningham as Father Dominic Moran
- Liam McMahonLiam McMahonLiam McMahon is an Actor, born in Ireland. His work includes roles in Snatch , Living in Hope and Northanger AbbeyHis latest project is Hunger, which was directed by Steve McQueen and written by Enda Walsh. The film premiered in Cannes 2008, where it opened the official sidebar section, Un Certain...
as Gerry Campbell - Stuart Graham as Raymond Lohan
- Brian Milligan as Davey Gillen
- Laine Megaw as Mrs. Lohan
- Karen HassanKaren HassanKaren Hassan is a British actress, born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her work includes roles in Hollyoaks Later and Hunger. As of 2010 she is playing Lynsey Nolan in the main series of Hollyoaks.-Hollyoaks:...
as Gerry's Girlfriend - Frank McCusker as The Governor
- Lalor Roddy as William
- Helen Madden as Mrs. Sands
- Des McAleer as Mr. Sands
- Geoff Gatt as Bearded Man
- Rory Mullen as Priest
- Ben Peel as Riot Prison Officer Stephen Graves
- Helena Bereen as Raymond's Mother
- Paddy Jenkins as Hitman
- Billy Clarke as Chief Medical Officer
- Ciaran Flynn as Twelve-Year-Old Bobby
- B.J. Hogg as Loyalist Orderly
Production
The film is notable for an unbroken 17-minute shot, in which a priest played by Liam Cunningham tries to talk Bobby SandsBobby Sands
Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
out of his protest. In it, the camera remains in the same position for the duration of the shot. To prepare for the scene, Cunningham moved into Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender is an Irish-German actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class...
's apartment for a time while they practised the scene at least twelve times a day, sometimes repeating the scene fifteen times in a single day. It is the longest shot in a mainstream film.
The film premiered at Cannes, where it opened the official sidebar section, Un Certain Regard, sparking both walkouts and a standing ovation. The film was released in the UK and in Ireland 31 October 2008.
Critical reception
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Andrea Gronvall of Chicago Reader named it the 3rd best film of 2008, and Scott Foundas of LA WeeklyLA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
named it the 3rd best film of 2008 (along with Che
Che (film)
Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
). Eric Armstrong of The Moving Arts Film Journal
The Moving Arts Film Journal
The Moving Arts Film Journal is an online film journal known for its academic essays on the cultural and societal relevance of film, often offering scathing reviews of movies perceived to be low-brow, while at the same time recognizing all forms of cinema as note-worthy including often neglected...
gave a favorable review, calling the film "...a deeply disturbing sensory experience."
Hunger was voted the best film of 2008 by the British film magazine Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
, and that year McQueen received the Discovery Award and $10,000 at the 33rd annual Toronto film festival. It also won in the best film category at the 2009 Evening Standard British Film Awards
Evening Standard British Film Awards
The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by the British London area evening newspaper Evening Standard. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony honours films from the previous...
. The film also was named the "Best Film of 2009" by the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, it shared the award with Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Inglourious Basterds. Director McQueen won the Carl Forman BAFTA Award for "Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film".
The movie has a 7.6 point rating on the Internet Movie Database.
External links
- Hunger film-page
- New York Times feature
- EyeForFilm.co.uk – New York Film Festival press conference with Steve McQueen on Hunger
- Life and death in Long Kesh – Ronan BennettRonan BennettRonan Bennett is a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family headed by William H. and Geraldine Bennett at 420 Merville Garden Village in the Whitehouse area of Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Since its development in the late-1940s, Merville has...
's memoir and film review, the Guardian - Hunger nominated for Index on Censorship Film Award 2009