While Steve McQueen’s affecting 2008 drama Hunger portrayed the experience of Bobby Sands during his 1981 hunger strike, Brendan J Byrne’s new documentary about the 27-year-old Provisional IRA member contextualises both the political landscape in Ireland at the time, and gives a fascinating insight into the media machinations behind political protests.
Byrne’s documentary is both evocative and informative, thanks to his use of engaging reenactments, readings from Bobby Sands’ diary (voiced by Martin McCann), and his incisive interviews with historians, sociologists and Sands’ former comrades. These interviews give insight not only into the man, but into how his enigmatic personality and use of the body politic made him the perfect raw material to become an icon; a man who the public felt close to but on whom they could also project their own beliefs.
As former guards and fellow hunger strikers attest to both the horrendous nature of Sands’ 66-day strike – as well as the horrendous acts of violence between English and Irish forces, and the in-prison relations that led to it – Byrne uses a wealth of archival footage to show how the media covered not only Sands’ protest, but various political protests and hunger strikes throughout history, showing how quickly the media creates simplified narratives of heroes and villains.
Added to these cultural insights are Sands’ personal musings on the nature of martyrdom, suffering and dying for the cause – which highlight his awareness of political theory and how international awareness could help bring the oppression to an end.
Despite being structured as a countdown towards Sands’ death, Byrne’s inventively structured and ever-engaging documentary doesn’t play on the drama of this historical event, but lingers in the complexity.

Directed by Brendan J Byrne. Featuring Fintan O’Toole, Raymond McCord, Denis Sweeney, Richard English, Gerry Adams, Denis O’Hearn, Michael Biggs, Tim Pat Coogan, Brendan O’Cathaoir. 105 mins
In cinemas August 5