Movieo
Poster for Hunger

Hunger

An odyssey, in which the smallest gestures become epic and when the body is the last resource for protest.

2008 · 1h 36m · Not Rated Drama, History
Directed by Steve McQueen

Seen it?

Overview

The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
90%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Midway through the movie there's an epic 24-minute scene...in the claustrophobic cell block the protesters have already internalized their cause so deeply that the world of words seems distant and inconsequential.

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Fresh

It's a strength of this carefully composed, almost obsessively controlled picture that it has no interest in the conventional biographical focus on a subject.

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Fresh

Hunger is daunting and powerful work.

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Fresh

Hunger is not about the rights and wrongs of the British in Northern Ireland, but about inhumane prison conditions, the steeled determination of IRA members like Bobby Sands, and a rock and a hard place.

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh

Hunger -- the disturbing, provocative, brilliant feature debut from British director Steve McQueen -- does for modern film what Caravaggio did to Renaissance painting.

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Comments

Talk about the film with other members

More films