What makes the quiet so effective is how McQueen lets it linger for long periods of time before assaulting the audience with extremely brutal images, images that hit harder once it is remembered that this is based on the true accounts and stories of the prisoners and guards who lived and died through this. That isn’t to say that both parties get off easy through McQueen’s lens, though. They’re going to be viewed as humans, flawed and insecure but taking a stance on whichever side they chose or fell into and there, McQueen shows both sides as victims of circumstance and choice rather than one simply being an oppressor of the other. McQueen juxtaposes the opposing sides of the struggle throughout the entire film and by opening with it, it grants some insight as to how these two groups of people are going to be viewed. The film opens with the harsh, abrasive sounds of many protesters slamming trash can lids onto the ground with no dialog spoken and then goes completely silent and shows who the audience comes to find out is one of the Maze prison guards as he prepares himself for work, soaking his busted up hands in warm water as he prepares for another rough day. They weren’t calling for anything too radical, just to be able to wear their own clothing, receive mail and visitors, and to not be classified as criminals but rather prisoners of war and when their requests/demands were continually ignored, they took matters into their own hands and asserted their power in a very quiet manner and quiet is a key to the victories of Hunger. ![]() Hunger tells the dramatized account of Bobby Sands who led a hunger strike once incarcerated in Her Majesty’s Maze Prison in order to receive political recognition and to improve the dismal living conditions that he and the other prisoners apart of the Irish Republican Army were being forced to endure. When placed under the guidelines of Mike Wayne’s Third Cinema criteria, Hunger is able to convey a message that both informs its viewers while also calling them to research the man and the movement that has been portrayed, allowing the film to become interactive and more than just a movie and with McQueen choosing to focus on the humanity of the situation rather than the politics of it all, the power is truly lasting and resonates long after the final credits have finished rolling. Hunger is a special film that is quiet in its execution but powerful in its impact. When Steve McQueen decided to take on the task of telling a portion of Bobby Sands’ story, he captured not only the life of the man who gave up his own for the betterment of others and a cause that he truly believed in, but he also captured the entire essence of the movement that encompassed both the IRA prisoners and the guards that were following orders against them.
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