ISOLATION is the word best used to describe acclaimed art house director Steve McQueen’s latest offering, Hunger. From the opening shots of prison guard Raymond Lohan, played by Stuart Graham, preparing for a day’s work, to the body of Bobby Sands being wheeled out of the room he died in, everything in the film is cold and lonesome.

Hunger tells the story of Bobby Sands and other IRA prisoners who sought to be declared political prisoners during the infamous years of the ‘Troubles’. Over the course of the film Sands and others are viciously beaten by the prison guards for refusing to co-operate, McQueen doesn’t shy away from depicting this. Sands then decides to go on hunger strike and it is from here that the essence of the film unfolds.

It is essentially a visual film, scenes with dialogue come few and far between. At that, most dialogue comes in the form of one word sentences. Instead the camera focuses on the actions and reactions of the characters either from extreme distance or extreme close up. The shots are often distorted to give a feeling of unease. The only exception is an unbroken 20 minute scene of dialogue, shot continuously without a single cut.

Throughout the scene Sands, played exceptionally well by German-born Kerryman Michael Fassbender, talks to Liam Cunningham who plays the priest. They discuss life in the clergy, the political situation in Northern Ireland and Sands’ plan for the hunger strike. It is a tour-de-force in acting, made more impressive considering the length of the scene. That is the only point in the film where tension is not present, other scenes are cloaked in unseen dread, and when the violence does kick in McQueen tends to let it consume the screen.

Hunger is a violent film both visually and emotionally. The viewer is left to watch Sands skeletal body wither away. Abuses are untouched by the director, realism seems to be at the forefront of his mind throughout.

It is hard to describe Hunger as a good film, but it is compelling. It is extremely bleak but it has a raw visceral edge to it that makes riveting if uncomfortable viewing. It’s a gruelling and compelling experience, but an experience you will not want to miss.