3. Hunger
Director: Steve McQueen
What is it about? Steve McQueens Hunger concerns the final months of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Sands, an inmate in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland, and his fellow Republican inmates seek to be reclassified as political, and not criminal, prisoners. They initially engage in a dirty protest whereby urine is poured underneath cell doors, excrement is smeared on cell walls, men refuse to wash and they leave their hair to grow unrestrained. This resistance is met with brutal beatings and forced washes by the prison guards. Sands, in his quest for status as a political prisoner, finally decides to order a hunger strike and is the first to embark upon its deadly journey.
Why is it great? This is a film about Northern Ireland yet makes no political point, puts forward no agenda and has no ulterior motive driving it. It merely presents the human story and it does so with a rigorous visual attention to detail that is typical of McQueens artistic approach. This makes for some stunningly beautiful scenes which arise from some shocking subject matter; a particular scene early on where a snowflake falls and melts on the bloodied knuckles of a prison guard perfectly conveys this. This relentless focus on image, more so than dialogue, makes this film truly unique. Despite this the most striking scene in the film relies solely on dialogue and is shot in one continuous seventeen and a half minute take with only a side profile of two actors in view. It concerns Sands as he debates the morality of his decision to order a strike with a disapproving Catholic priest. It is an intellectual, existential duel between two ideologically opposed men and makes for one of the most intense and gripping scenes of recent times. This scene alone is reason enough for Hunger to make the list. This truly is brave filmmaking and this truly is a brave film.
Final Thought Hunger is one of the most harrowing, thought provoking and visually stunning pieces of cinema to have come out of the British Isles. It is a truly absorbing piece of film, at times deeply philosophical and at times deeply disturbing. Ultimately it is about the human condition and the lengths people are willing to go due to a belief in a cause. http://youtu.be/Mw7WJLZmVF4