Hunger (2008)

"Picture represents a powerful, pertinent but not entirely perfect debut for British visual-artist-turned-feature-helmer Steve McQueen, who demonstrates a painterly touch with composition and real cinematic flair, but who stumbles in film's last furlough with trite symbolism."

"This film possesses a rare and powerful beauty, and an astonishing performance from Michael Fassbender as Sands, making the committment to endure so worthwhile."

"In his fearless commitment to the verité of prison life, McQueen offers a study of individual lives shorn away by institutional role-playing, observing as the gap between prisoners and guards repeatedly dissolves into ceremonial violence."

"The first-time director's unflinching camera, deliberate pacing and maddeningly long takes just amplify the story's innate harshness and test audience endurance levels."

"Trite, grim and feebly provocative."

"While Hunger is a very brutal film, it also taps into human emotions and, in the end, asks what would we be willing to die for or, better, what could we truly not live without?"

"Anchored by Fassbender’s turn, Hunger is as much about the personal as the political. The real breakthrough, though, is McQueen, who turns in a film that dazzles and challenges in equal measure."