Bobby Sands, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member who led the 1981 Irish hunger strike and participated in the no wash protest (led by Brendan "The Dark" Hughes) in which Republican prisoners tried to win political status. It dramatises events in the Maze prison in the six weeks prior to Sands death. (from IMDB)The imagery is naked,distressing to watch and at times layered with faraway sounds or soft visuals.Speech is extremely minimal,except one long discussion between the protagonist and a priest.This scene,during which the camera barely moves-really takes its time to lay down a very solid foundation for the movie.The second half focuses on one man's mission to starve himself-we go into detail the days leading to his demise,told physically through blood-tainted sheets and the deterioration of his body from the inside and out.A large part of the film deals with him (Bobby Sands) alone,but others from different sides of the story are briefly introduced and kept present-be it a prison guard and his bruised fist,or an unseen female narrator who offers political quips-all weaved into a neutral observation.
There were several things I didn't like though.The long scene with the priest will be the most memorable for some,for its testing length and there's an emotional part involving a panicky officer where slow-mo is used,in both instances an extra bit of editing would've done a whole lot of good.That said,what I like best was how the film chose to derive Bobby's decision to fully pull through a hunger strike,mainly from just one particular childhood incident,that comes back in the most subtle forms and wraps up everything beautifully.In someone else's hands,it might've been extended to a lifetime of unfortunate events but here both director Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbander (who plays Sands with a deep,effortless intensity) use the barest of tools and smallest of gestures to create a profound film about human strength and weakness,saying that both can be the same thing.
...
Check back in a couple days for the Quantum of Solace review :)
No comments:
Post a Comment