The debut feature from Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen is a harrowing, unyielding but visually poetic depiction of the protests that took place among Republican prisoners in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, in 1981. Focusing on the hunger strike of Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), this often wordless film creates an unsettling atmosphere through its detailed depiction of the daily routine, be it the disinfecting of a urine-soaked corridor or the systematic beating of inmates by prison staff (led by a stoic Stuart Graham). One atypically verbal exchange between an utterly convincing Fassbender and priest Liam Cunningham lasts 20 minutes, confirming McQueen as more than an exquisite stylist. Eschewing historical exposition beyond occasional spectral snippets from PM Margaret Thatcher, Hunger forces the viewer to face up to the hardships of prison life during times of conflict, but avoids the soapbox. The result is a work of art from which it's impossible to avert your eyes.

The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.