Well nobody could ever accuse Michael Fassbender is giving half measures here in this graphic and brutal biopic of Irish Republican prisoner Bobby Sands. Shortly after Margaret Thatcher took power in Britain, he was incarcerated in Belfast’s Maze Prison where his stance against not just the UK but the predominately Unionist views of the population of Northern Ireland at the time were seeing him and his fellow inmates living in what can only be described as squalid (though much of that was self-afflicted) conditions that would not have looked out of place in some South American dictatorship. His protests were falling on deaf and disinterested ears and in the end, he concluded that the ultimate sacrifice was his only option. Not that that, in itself, would solve the problems - but in the hope that it would galvanise younger generations that he was prepared to starve himself to death. The writing provides for quite soaring dialogue that is angrily pithy and effective at illustrating just how divided this community was, but essentially it is the raw imagery that does almost almost all of the heavy lifting. Now the one thing it doesn’t try to do is offer us any sort of balance. Naturally, from his perspective, it is profoundly anti-British, but it does not really spend any time on the historical situation that bedevils this province, still. Much of the violence carried out in the prison was carried out by his fellow Irishmen - a section of the population every bit as convinced by their own beliefs as Sands was by his. It’s this one-sidedness that lets this down a little, especially as the photography towards the end almost sanctifies an actor who already has the eyes and visage to suit that purpose, but there can be no doubt as we watch his steady journey into emaciation that this was a principled man who endured much for his cause. It’s quite a grim watch that does little to inform on the still ongoing debate about Irish unity/Britishness but it is definitely worth watching.
