TURNER Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen makes his narrative feature-film debut with a harrowing recreation of the hunger strikes of the early 80s in Belfast's Maze Prison.

Based on a screenplay co-written by playwright Enda Walsh, Hunger is distinguished by McQueen's meticulous eye for detail and his steadfast refusal to paint characters as heroes, villains or martyrs.

Parallels with Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are apparent, challenging our morality about the treatment of prisoners.

Filmed in Northern Ireland, the story cuts between figures on both sides of the bars, beginning with prison officer Raymond Lohan (Stuart Graham), who is part of the team in charge of the infamous H-Blocks.

He arrives at work to welcome new inmate Davey Gillen (Brian Milligan), who joins his republican brothers on the blanket and no-wash protest.

Davey shares a cell with fellow non-conformer Gerry Campbell (Liam McMahon), a claustrophobic room with excreta smeared on the walls, maggots wriggling in leftover food.

At Sunday Mass, we are introduced to H-Block's leader, Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender).

After one particularly vicious encounter with the guards, Bobby resolves to starve himself to death, with other prisoners following suit.

A confessional with priest Father Dominic Moran (Liam Cunningham) – captured in a bravura, 22-minute, single-take conversation – poses difficult questions about the nature of sacrifice.

Hunger is an impressionistic portrait of a time in history when ten men effectively declared war against their own bodies.

Fassbender is mesmerising.Brief moments of humour, such as Bobby joking to the Father about inmates using pages from the Bible as makeshift roll-ups, offer brief respite from gut-wrenching scenes of conflict.

Film of the year.

Strong violence, language and medical gore