Hunger

With the release of Shame on DVD, I thought it would be best to catch up on the last film made by Steve McQueen, as I am really looking forward to watching his latest. His last film was Hunger which stars the brilliant Michael Fassbender. The film is set in 1981 and follows the event of the IRA hunger strike led by prisoner Bobby Sands.

Fassbender plays Bobby Sands and it doesn't look as if he took to the role likely. I'm not sure how much of Bobby Sands body was actually a skinny Fassbender or how much was make up effects but I'm pretty sure it was a bit of both.

The acting though is superb from all the cast, even the ones which don't get any dialogue to say, which was most of them. Hunger was like that though, more style than acting, it could have been a silent film if it wasn't for a 17 minute long scene of a conversation between Bobby Sands and a priest. I applaud the director in the choice of putting that scene in though, most films would not be able to pull this off, and neither would this one if it wasn't for the great dialogue and Fassbender's acting skills.

I was unsure throughout most of this film who the main character was though. It is Fassbender's film after the first half but before that we dip in and out of other characters lives, I am assuming this was to get all the different sides of the story but because we only get short stints of each person it feels kind of short changed.

Though what this does do is allows us as the audience not to sympathise with any of the characters. As many of the audience will not be able to feel for the IRA prisoner beforehand and side with the guards but here you get to see that everyone was in the wrong.

This film is not for everyone though, it is more art house than mainstream and many critics have called it an 'artistic masterpiece'. The film is very gruesome and is not for the faint hearted, the guards and prisoners are violent and some do some pretty disgusting things.

I however did like this film, although slow in places the style and acting was very good. When the dialogue did set in some great stories were told. This was a good a film and I can't wait to see what the McQueen and Fassbender team up have done with Shame. The pair certainly have a love for hard hitting subject matters with this film being about hunger strikes and Shame being about sex addiction. This film is not for everyone but if you want to see some great film making in progress then this is the film for you.

Thanks for reading!