Steve McQueen
Hunger

THE REVIEW

"Hunger" was the first chapter of the collaboration between the emerging Mc Queen as director and Michael Fassbender, which also includes "Shame". Both films received considerable critical acclaim.

This debut film traces fascinating events and everything, meaning the love for the homeland; the IRA and how it was associated (and the film is a decent representation of it) with good intentions that yield poor results, so much so that we find a long conversation between Bobby Sands (Fassbender) and a Catholic priest about the former's decision to undertake a hunger strike, and the exchange becomes a chess game where the stakes are very high, they have to discuss the nature of sacrifice - as the director himself explains in a disjointed way.

The plot of the film traces the real events that occurred in 1981 in Ireland, when some imprisoned IRA members undertook a hunger strike as a form of protest against the English government, which still occupies the northern part of the island. A protest that became increasingly harsh and violent, more and more absurd to the point of making it seem like economic interests dictate the fate of humanity. A rather pessimistic view, even childish if you want, given that in reality, the film does not hide particular meanings, and it does not even enjoy an inspired direction like "Shame", which is also far from excellent in any case. The concepts may indeed be strong, and we can say the same about the images, especially the final ones with the slow crumbling of Bobby Sands' body; but in the end, nothing interesting.