Hunger

Released Mar 20, 2009

1 hr. 32 min.

Drama

History

TRAILER

for Hunger: Trailer 1

List

90%

134 Reviews

Tomatometer

83%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Focusing on the 1981 hunger strikes by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Bobby Sands is one of a group of prisoners who first "took to the blanket" with a "dirty protest" in pursuit of their claims for recognition as political prisoners. Sands then became the first one of the group to embark on a hunger strike that was to end in his death.

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Critics Consensus

Unflinching, uncompromising, vivid and vital, Steve McQueen's challenging debut is not for the faint hearted, but it's still a richly rewarding retelling of troubled times.

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Jeffrey P

Not much reason for anyone with an outsider perspective to care about any aspect of this or to sympathize or empathize with anyone in it. I thought it was a mess with no flow other than the shock and awe of brutality and morbidity. Smart squeegee scene though, completing the transition from disgusting prison brutality to disgusting hospital morbidity, I guess that's why it got all the high reviews.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/25/24

Full Review

Na

I'm patient when it comes to slow movies but this was just terrible. The positive reviews don't make sense, even as an ‘art piece' this was a just bad movie Very little dialogue, plot, not visually appealing, not much of a soundtrack, it just seemed like a lazy job from the writer to the director. The actors were good though. The editor was fine.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/31/23

Full Review

Mathilde D

This movie enables me to understand the Troubles in Northern Ireland from the dissenters' perspectives. There's no better filmmaker to bring it onto the silver screen than Steve McQueen, a Briton of Caribbean roots who grew up in a household where the TV got turned off the moment Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appeared. A visual artist by training, McQueen's mise en scene of bodily fluid as prisoners' weapons is vivid and original. Michael Fassbender's losing significant amount of weight on a diet of berry and nuts in his portrayal of Bobby Sands is emotionally triggering.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/29/23

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Gvr M

issa dumb movie. who eats like that

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/09/23

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Audience Member

I found this on TCM and, having been a student of the period, watched it and found it painfully unflinching. IMDB does a good job of describing the movies most intense moments, and Fassbenders commitment is similar to what Hanks did for Castaway, or Bale in The Mechanic. I would have liked a few minutes of follow up after Sands death, but I won't argue with Steve McQueens vision.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

dave s

Steve McQueen's Hunger, essentially a film told in two parts, is a wildly stylish but dark and harrowing story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In the first portion, set almost entirely within the walls of a prison, IRA members convicted of acts against the state are brutalized by baton-wielding guards. With virtually no dialogue to speak of, McQueen uses stark imagery to convey the savagery that exists within the confines of the jail. The film transitions into its second act with a remarkable scene of dialogue between prisoner Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender, who is remarkable) and a priest, an approximately fifteen-minute long continuous take where Sands explains the impending hunger strike he is to embark on. Hunger pulls no punches, telling the IRA's perspective of The Troubles in unflinching detail, a grim reminder of the dangers of blind faith, imperialism and generational hatred.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Steve McQueen

Director

Michael Fassbender

Bobby Sands

Liam Cunningham

Father Moran

Stuart Graham

Ray Lohan

Brian Milligan

Davey Gillen

Liam McMahon

Gerry Campbell

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Hunger: Trailer 1

1:33

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Keith Uhlich

Time Out

McQueen seems too enamored of his shorthand art-house symbolism for [the film] to truly resonate.

Rated: 3/6

Jul 25, 2020

Full Review

Matt Singer

The Rumpus

There is very little context, because on the inside, prison has no context. There is just horror. And maybe, sometimes, in the least expected places, beauty.

Sep 18, 2017

Full Review

Ryan Gilbey

New Statesman

The stylistic palette of McQueen's picture, and its grasp of cinematic vocabulary, elevate the film to a purely visceral realm, so that it seems to bypass your eyes and ears and go straight for your nerve endings.

Nov 2, 2015

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

[Fassbender's] performance is a small sensation.

Rated: 4/4

Aug 15, 2023

Full Review

Fico Cangiano

CineXpress Podcast

Michael Fassbender is phenomenal in Steve McQueen's impressive and captivating feature debut. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3.5/5

May 14, 2022

Full Review

Tom Cassidy

Common Sense Media

It's a breathtaking piece of filming born out of a story riddled with violence, gore, maggots, and human waste.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 5, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Focusing on the 1981 hunger strikes by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Bobby Sands is one of a group of prisoners who first "took to the blanket" with a "dirty protest" in pursuit of their claims for recognition as political prisoners. Sands then became the first one of the group to embark on a hunger strike that was to end in his death.

Director: Steve McQueen
Executive Producer: Iain Canning, Peter Carlton, Edmund Coulthard, Linda James
Screenwriter: Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Film 4, Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen
Genre: Drama, History
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 20, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 27, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $154.1K