HUNGER CELEBRATES THE MARTYRDOM OF BOBBY SANDS
Provisional Irish Republican Army leader Bobby Sands (played by Michael Fassbender) died in Maze Prison while on a 66-day hunger strike on May 5, 1981, at the age of 27. Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen (no relation to the actor), begins by setting the premise for that strike by revealing the brutal way in which IRA demonstrators were treated in prison and how they reacted. Believing that they were not common criminals, IRA detainees demanded to be given Special Category Status as political prisoners. When their demands were not met, they first refused to don prison garb and thus remained naked except for a blanket. When that tactic failed, and the guards refused to provide toilets and washing facilities in their cells, they refused to wash, coated their cells with feces, and dumped urine into the prison hallways. Next, Sands called a general hunger strike in which the prisoners unconditionally demanded the right to wear their own clothes, to refuse prison work, to associate with one another, to have educational and recreational opportunities, and weekly visits including mail and parcels. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to respond until Sands and nine others died. After their martyrdom, there was an escalation of IRA activity and increased sympathy for the prisoners and their cause around the world. Nevertheless, the struggle continued until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Due to the graphic portrayal of the brutality by the prison guards, which resembles the ongoing treatment of mostly innocent Guantánamo prisoners, the Political Film Society has nominated Hunger as best film on human rights of 2008. MH