Michael Fassbender is wholly convincing as IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.

The British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen brings a painterly meticulousness to the bracing 2008 drama, Hunger. The movie tells the story of IRA member Bobby Sands, who died at 27 during a hunger strike that protested the treatment of Irish political prisoners in Britain’s Prison Maze.

Much of the film traces the largely wordless degradations and punishments administered to IRA members. These scenes build to a tense centerpiece in which a disapproving priest engages in an extended conversation with Sands (Michael Fassbender) about his planned hunger strike.

The effects of the deprivations on Sands’ body are depicted with grueling verisimilitude, as he becomes a bloody, emaciated Christ figure stretched upon a symbolic cross. Fassbender matches McQueen’s artistry with an excellent performance, and their creation is as enthralling to watch as it is difficult to stomach.

Read other film posts.