~*HUNGRY FOR HUNGER>"

I saw Hunger today, a film by Steve McQueen and winner of the Golden Camera (Camera D'Or) at Cannes earlier this year. First I wasn't all that interested to go and see it. But then they paid special attention to it on De Wereld Draait Door, that Dutch show I mentioned before, and knowing that it won the Golden Camera and reading about its great cinematography on this Oscar site called Awardsdaily, I became much more interested in seeing it. So today I went with my parents and I can say that it's definitely a must-see. At times though it can be a very tough film to watch. McQueen isn't afraid to show violence nor bloody imagery and at the end Michael Fassbender's starved body, the actor who plays Sands, makes for some very disturbing scenes. Seeing his body in this state, so fragile, you become much more aware of your own body, suddenly being afraid that your body might break as well. You're so into it that you come to completely identify with the body on screen through your own body. Fassbender's body, like that of Christian Bale in The Machinist, recalls those disturbing and eerie images of Holocaust prison camp workers. Hunger definitely is far from an easy film to watch, but even though some of the images can be disturbing at times because of what they show, it's how they are shown which makes the film a real triumph. I loved the use of camera angles, its close-ups, the long takes. It's a very artistic film which is due of course to McQueen's background as an artist making films which have been exhibited in art galleries. Hunger is his first feature length film. What I also loved was the way he introduced Sands. This film is about Bobby Sands and at the same time it isn't, or at least it isn't just about him. Other characters are given some good screen time as well. McQueen manages to, even though eventually putting much of the focus on Sands, give a much broader view, being able to really depict a sense of what all IRA prisoners were going through in the Maze prison. It's a very affective film, very realistic, and beautifully shot. Some of the compositions had me holding my breath for a moment and the film, mostly bleakly coloured, ends with some nice green images situated in the woods. The film really succeeds at every level and should be able to really reach a large audience.