Attention: You should read the instructions for film responses again. For a "quality effort" grade, be sure to focus on the film work in ONE moment from the film per paragraph. Your document name should be "LastName.FirstName.FR4.S20"
The graphic brutality of this film provokes a visceral reaction—viewers are more than likely to feel disgusted by images of filth, bodily abuse, sickness; at the same time, director McQueen arranges these images around a very real ethical dilemma that imposes another kind of burden. Hunger is an unsettling film on almost every level, in part because it recounts real historical events and in part because it offers no simple answers about the value and purpose of human life.
The Maze prison, where almost all of the movie takes place, is the site of a political standoff between the British government and the IRA prisoners. The latter will not concede their demands for political status, and the former respond to the "blanket and no wash" protest with continual violence. This lack of negotiation is mirrored by the film's own refusal to negotiate with us. There is no bargaining with this film—the only alternative to its unflinching detail is to look away, to block it out.
The centerpiece of the film, the ethical argument between Bobby Sands and a priest, is framed on either side by the brutality that results when civil negotiations fail. The placement and length of this scene suggests, perhaps, that McQueen wants to give us a recess from the preceding onslaught of human cruelty, but he also wants to prepare us for the self-inflicted abuse that Bobby Sands is willing to undergo for his beliefs. We are made to concentrate on his motivation, on his mental defiance.
Now here is your prompt: First, why, to Bobby Sands, is a hunger strike the ultimate protest, the ultimate show of defiance, against the British government and their treatment of IRA prisoners? How does the director change the tone of the film to reflect the nature of this protest? Second, what is the purpose of the visions and memories of himself as a child that appear to the dying Bobby Sands? How do these images from the past help clarify the message of the film, if any? Remember, please write two equal-length paragraphs, for a total of at least 300 words in Google Drive.
