Classic Intel: Hunger - DVD Review

'part art-project, part character study, with a visual palette that's less celestial whites and grey daubs and more excrement stained browns and vomit greens'

Steve McQueen's striking and innovative directorial debut, Hunger is about as far removed from your standard prison drama as it's possible to get, whilst still moving recognisably in the tropes and considerations of the canon. This isn't a redemptive tale of bad morphing to good or a gangland saga of battles for control (although elements of both are present), instead this is part art-project, part character study, with a visual palette that's less celestial whites and grey daubs and more excrement stained browns and vomit greens.

'Complementing' the, erm, 'earthy' tones is McQueen's shooting style, which looks very much like it comes from his photography background. He's not afraid, for example, to keep the camera completely static for long periods of time, and to fill these periods with equally long takes, to mixed results. A mid-point conversation between Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender, impressive) and Father Dominic (Liam Cunningham, almost equally impressive) must go on for near to twenty-minutes, no cuts, no camera movements. Its the film's best moment, if you can call it that considering that in total it must take up close to a third of Hunger's tight ninety-six minute runtime.

On other occasions the technique works less well. Early on we follow Raymond Lohan (Stuart Graham) for a good stretch and his fastidious checking of his street (look up, look down, complemented by appropriate still shots) is predictable. Similarly, when a guard starts sweeping a hall from far away, gradually getting closer to the camera, it's difficult to believe we're going to watch him make it all the way along it, but watch him we are.

Narratively McQueen takes some gambles too. Lohan's segment must take up more or less equal time to Sands, which means the film is less character piece and more exploration of the Irish Troubles in microcosm. As such, it doesn't quite qualify as a Sands biopic but as a directorial calling card and innovative art piece it ticks all of the boxes and does so with style, flair and occasionally compulsive storytelling.

Look further...

'every shot and angle had a meaning, every little detail had its purpose' - Aziza's Picks