Hunger - Richard M-J, Andrea T

Story and plot:
This film is british because it's subject is the IRA and the war between ireland and britain, which is an important part of british history.

The final months of Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army activist who protested his treatment at the hands of British prison guards with a hunger strike, are chronicled in this historical drama, the first feature film from artist turned filmmaker Steve McQueen. Davey Gillen (Brian Milligan) is an IRA volunteer who is sentenced to Belfast's infamous Maze prison, where he shares a cell with fellow IRA member Gerry Campbell (Liam McMahon). Like most of the IRA volunteers behind bars, Gillen and Campbell are subjected to frequent violence by the guards, who in turn live with the constant threat of assassination at the hands of Republicans during their off hours. Campbell and Gillen are taking part in a protest in which they and their fellow IRA inmates are refusing to wear standard prison-issue uniforms as a protest against Ireland's refusal to recognize them as political prisoners, a move that is complicating their efforts to pass information among the other prisoners. As the protest fails to get results, one IRA member behind bars, Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), decides to take a different tack and begins a hunger strike, refusing to eat until Irish officials are willing to acknowledge the IRA as a legitimate political organization. However, while Sands' protest gains the attention both inside prison walls and in the international news, not everyone believes what he's doing is right, and Sands finds himself verbally sparring with a priest (Liam Cunningham) who questions the ethics and effectiveness of the strike. Hunger received its world premiere at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the Un Certain Regard program.

Actors:
• Michael Fassbender .... Bobby Sands
• Liam Cunningham .... Priest
• Stuart Graham .... Ray Lohan
• Liam McMahon .... Gerry
• Lalor Roddy .... William
• Laine Megaw .... Mrs. Lohan
• Helena Bereen .... Ray's mother
• Aaron Goldring .... young Bobby

These all have an irish or English family connection

Director:
It is written by Enda Walsh and Steve McQueen, who also directed. Steve Mcqueen was born and raised in London. His first major work was Bear (1993), in which two naked men (one of them McQueen) exchange a series of glances which might be taken to be flirtatious or threatening. One of his best known works, Deadpan (1997), is a restaging of a Buster Keaton stunt in which a house collapses around McQueen who is left unscathed because he is standing where there is a missing window.

As well as being in black and white, both these films are silent. The first of McQueen's films to use sound was also the first to use multiple images: Drumroll (1998).

Style:

We would describe this film as emotional, serious, striking, controversial.

Genre:
Political drama/thriller

It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4 and Film4. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for first-time filmmakers.It went on to win the Sydney Film Prize at the Sydney Film Festival, best picture by the Evening Standard British Film Awards, and received 2 BAFTA nominations, winning one. The film was also nominated for 4 awards at the 2009 IFTA's winning 2 at the event.