02 May 2009

The loneliness of the long-distance runner

Hunger

Crit

The centerpiece of this astonishing film about Bobby Sands and the other IRA hunger strikers of 1981--after we see the prisoners' excretory protests, before we see the grotesque mechanics of the starving body's attack against itself--is a long, maybe 15-minute, scene at a table of an otherwise empty dining hall, as Sands and his parish priest debate the religious, ethical, and political rightness of the upcoming strike. Sounds as undramatic as can be, right? Two guys talking, My Cigarette with Bobby. But in context it is more dramatic, I suspect, than anything the X-Men or Star Trek movies have for us, as both men fight for both men's souls.

One of the best films I can hope to see this year.

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