<p>On March 1, 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands led a hunger strike in Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison. Sixty-six days later, he died at the age of 27, a shriveled-up version of his former self. <a href=”http://www.ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=1197″ target=”_blank”>British director Steve McQueen’s chilling, superbly crafted vision</a> of the events leading up to Sands’ death doesn’t conform to predicable patterns of political filmmaking. The movie unfolds in distinct, commanding vignettes ranging from the elegiac (a prisoner’s hand caresses a bee) to the heart-thumpingly brutal (when riot police crack down on the inmates). <i>Hunger</i> does not simply chronicle a historic act of protest; it renders it timeless and transcendent.</p>
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<em>This review is from the </em>
<a href=”https://www.utne.com/arts/utne-reader-music-reviews-march-april-2009.aspx” target=”_blank”>
<em>March-April 2009 issue of</em> Utne Reader</a>
<em>.</em>
</p>
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