The most harrowing, moving and original drama I've seen this year.
Comment
11/14/08
Hunger (2008)
90
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:105
Fresh:94
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: Unflinching, uncompromising, vivid and vital. Steve McQueen’s challenging debut is not for the faint hearted, but still a richly rewarding retelling of troubled times.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Nov 6, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: Renowned English video artist Steve McQueen's feature film debut, HUNGER, is a cinematic punch to the gut. McQueen brings a visceral intensity to his retelling of the hunger strike instigated by... [More]
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Brian Milligan
Director: Steve McQueen
Reviews for Hunger
Top CriticIt is as unyielding as the men it documents...but refuses to force a judgement or demand sympathy.
11/14/08
Top CriticA consistently powerful and harrowing true story -- and a well-told one. Simply watching it is somehow physically uncomfortable, but it's also rewarding.
11/07/08
Top CriticOne of the great films of the year: stark, brave andunforgettable.
11/07/08
Top CriticThere’s suspense here, but also a terrible sadness at the conflict itself and how men on both sides of the argument are destroyed by fanaticism.
10/31/08
Top CriticA feast of cinema, albeit harrowing and confronting
10/31/08
Top CriticOvertly political and unashamedly biased, McQueen's devastating film is shocking, disturbing and painful to watch. It is also an extremely powerful piece of cinema
10/31/08
Top CriticSpurious transcendence and underlined symbolism
08/25/09
Yes, "Hunger" is a fairly nasty affair and we don't even get to the starvation part until the third act.
07/21/09
If you're going to make a film about an extremist, it makes sense to tell the story using extreme or at least unusual techniques.
06/07/09
It’s as stubbornly inscrutable as its subjects.
05/15/09
"Hunger" pushes through the cliches of both prison films and political films to make something original, powerful and hard to shake.
05/08/09
Seriously brutal.
04/23/09
Steve McQueen's Hunger is a daring, brutal, vital piece of filmmaking.
04/21/09
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.
04/17/09
An alternately harrowing and poetic take on the fatal 1982 hunger strike of Irish Republican Army prisoner Bobby Sands, Hunger is also one of the most impressive feature directing debuts in years.
04/17/09
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.
04/17/09
Hunger is daunting and powerful work.
04/16/09
It's by Irish video artist Steve McQueen (yes, that's his name), and it's his visually arresting take on the 1981 hunger strike by IRA leader Bobby Sands, ultimately leading to his death, and the deaths of nine other inmates at Belfast's Maze Prison.
04/16/09
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.
04/16/09
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