The first thing that may strike you as you watch Hunger, British director Steve McQueen's film about the 1981 "dirty strike" and subsequent hunger strikes by IRA members locked up in Maze Prison that ended with ten deaths by starvation, is how aware you of the physicality of the bodies onscreen. You don't have to see a hell of a lot of movies before you become accustomed to the people on screen lacking the weight and gravity of real human beings, and stop thinking of them as being composed of flesh and blood and having nerve endings. That's just a natural consequence of seeing so many films where the people are basically props, and where the heroes can stoically bounce back from any amount of punishment. Somehow McQueen, a gallery artist with extensive filmmaking experience who's making his debut here as a director of features meant for theatrical release, rights the balance, keeping you conscious of the characters' physical powers and limitations, and the effect is disorienting and not a little subversive. It's also harrowing, because Hunger is a movie in which just about everything those bodies experience is unpleasant.
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