Hunger is a joint British-Irish motion picture, directed by Steve McQueen and released in 2008. It stars Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, Liam Cunningham as Father Moran, Stuart Graham as Raymond Lohan and Liam McMahon as Gerry Campbell. The film depicts protests and hunger strikes by Irish Republican prisoners in 1981, with a particular focus on Bobby Sands, the first prisoner to starve himself to death. The prisoners portrayed in Hunger are protesting the British government’s withdrawal of Special Category Status (SCS) for prisoners convicted of paramilitary-related offences. The loss of SCS means they are treated like common criminals and denied rights and privileges available to prisoners of war. The revocation of SCS also paints Irish Republicanism as a criminal act rather than a legitimate political struggle.
Hunger opens by introducing us to guards and prisoners in HM Prison Maze. One prison officer checks his vehicle for IRA car bombs before leaving work. A convict arrives but refuses to wear prison uniform, cladding himself in a blanket. Another daubs the walls of his cell with his own excrement. When the prisoners refuse to wash they are beaten and brutalised by the guards. Word of this reaches the Provisional IRA, who execute one officer as he visits his mother. Bobby Sands, meanwhile, decides to protest against these conditions by instigating a hunger strike. There is a long scene where a Catholic priest, Father Moran, tries to convince Sands of the futility of starving himself. Sands, however, remains committed to the protest. The effects of the hunger strike on his body are described by a doctor and depicted in harrowing scenes. Sands dies 66 days into his strike, with his mother at his bedside.
Hunger is a skilfully made film that received critical praise and invoked a measure of controversy. Fassbender’s emotionally intense portrayal of Sands received considerable acclaim. Hunger is not a movie about the politics of the Troubles, which are almost never discussed. Instead, it paints a grim picture of the desperate conditions in H Block during the 1981 protests. The violence of the Troubles permeates prison life: Loyalist guards brutalise Republican prisoners but are themselves targeted by the IRA. Both sides, prisoners and guards alike, remain determined to win the argument, despite the obvious risks to their lives. This itself serves as a metaphor for the Troubles.
© Alpha History 2017. Content on this page may not be republished or distributed without permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use.
This page was written by Jennifer Llewellyn and Steve Thompson. To reference this page, use the following citation:
J. Llewellyn and S. Thompson, “Hunger (2008)”, Alpha History, accessed [today’s date], https://alphahistory.com/northernireland/hunger-2008/.