Hunger Pains


Director & Co-Writer Steve McQueen


Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands


What’s more, the film is surprisingly bereft of dialogue, save for a stunning scene between Bobby and his priest that goes on uninterrupted without a single cut for nearly 22 minutes!!  It is extraordinary…and riveting.  McQueen makes the interesting choice of presenting the scene in a simple, fixed 2-shot of the actors (almost in silhouette) from a far enough distance that you are once again forced to be an observer, rather than a participator in the conversation, as is the case when the camera cuts back and forth between two people.  I realize this is done in the theater all the time, but it is rarely seen on film.  Fassbender and Liam Cunningham (as the priest) pull it off brilliantly.  (So brilliantly that I watched it twice.)You may be wondering, given my love for him, how on earth I’ve managed to go this long without discussing Michael Fassbender at length.  Never fear, the time has come.  I must first acknowledge that every single actor in this film is pitch-perfect ~ as authentic and as good as it gets.  And it couldn’t have been easy work for anyone on this film (it is tough stuff, in every sense of the word).  BUT, no one comes close to matching what Fassbender does for and achieves in his depiction of Bobby Sands.  His dedication and conviction as an actor is put on full ~ and devastating ~ display, particularly in the final third of the movie as Bobby begins his 66-day hunger strike.  At the risk of sounding narcissistic, it is torturous to watch as Fassbender/Sands (how does one separate the two in this circumstance?!) literally wastes away before your very eyes.  And of course, once again, McQueen does a remarkable job of putting you in the midst of the physical and mental/emotional decay.  Sands’ experience of starvation and its effects becomes painfully tangible (to both Fassbender’s and McQueen’s credit).  The vacancy in Fassbender’s piercing, and here gaunt and sunken, blue eyes as his character lies dying will haunt you long afterward.  It is without a doubt one of the most difficult scenes I’ve ever watched on film…almost too much to bear, but a testament to Michael’s performance that I saw it through.  It is astonishing what Fassbender put himself through for this role.

Some might call it extreme, but I think it actually speaks to the greater questions this film poses:  How does one develop the level of conviction it takes to so fully commit to something that you’re willing to risk your life for it?  How does one determine what he/she is willing to die for?  I neither condemn nor condone such a choice.  I only hope I never have to make it.

Hunger is, I believe, a thought-provoking cinematic masterpiece, even if it is a heavy load to bear.

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