Hunger [2008]

Description:
The film stars Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member who led the 1981 Irish hunger strike and participated in the no wash protest (led by Brendan "The Dark" Hughes) in which Republican prisoners tried to win political status. It dramatises events in the Maze prison in the six weeks prior to Sands death.

The film opens with prison guard, Raymond Lohan (Stuart Graham) preparing to leave for work; checking under his car for bombs, putting on his uniform in the locker room and ignoring the camaraderie of his colleagues.

Davey (Brian Milligan), a new IRA prisoner arrives at the gaol, following his refusal to wear the prison uniform, he is labeled "non-cooperative." His new roommate, Gerry (Liam McMahon), has smeared the cell with faeces from floor to ceiling and we witness their resistance to the prison regime.

Sands is the focus of the film. He deeply believes in the cause that he was imprisoned for and in the righteousness of dying for political prisoner status. In one of the film's most notable scenes Sands debates the morality of the hunger strike with a visiting priest (Liam Cunningham).

Yet to be released in the UK [31st October 2008], the film has premiered at Cannes, where it opened the official sidebar section, Un Certain Regard, sparking both walkouts and a standing ovation.