I've been in a daze since watching this film last night. IRA, cruel prison conditions, beatings, Thatcher's voice in the background, and then a hunger strike followed by death! Yet there is no drama, there are no heroes and no villains at all. There isn't even a main character, they come and go as the movie evolves, yet their stories remain the same. The motivation behind characters' actions is sort of unclear - the guards who beat are as lost as the prisoners provoking them and receiving the punches. As the film ends, I begin to digest the first layer - there is no purpose to this conflict, each side faces an unbearable existence on a daily basis yet they continue to stand for some politically imposed ideals they can only fantasize about. That way, their minds are either generating nostalgia for the past or hope for the future. The characters are never about now, although the way the film is shot makes it obvious that NOW is the only thing they have. Except that the characters refuse to realize it themselves. So these are the thoughts the author left me to spend a sleepless night with. Today, something still doesn't make sense to me. I am confused that even though I spend 93 minutes watching serious abuse of prisoners' human rights I don't feel strongly for the Northern Irish cause nor do I feel disgust for the British authorities who let 9 men die of hunger because they wouldn't negotiate. I try to form an opinion on whether the guy that died on hunger strike committed suicide or whether he was murdered. I realize it was both and that truth and objectivity are an illusion. So it is pointless arguing over them, yet we do it again and again and again...
A great oeuvre d'art. Do see it...
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