'Hunger' directed by Steve McQueen was on Channel 4 tonight; a second viewing gave me a chance to see if it was as impressive as I had imagined it to be the first time i'd seen it.

I remember being almost transfixed when leaving the cinema after seeing the film; with several strands of the film running through my mind. One was of having watched such an artistically visual and beautiful film, which also contained some of the most graphic violence I have ever seen on screen.

What seemed to stick out was the detail; Snow flakes falling onto the prison guards bloodied knuckles; shit smeared patterns on the walls of the prisoners, close of up of a fly trapped between wire mesh. McQueen, a former winner of the turner prize, gave us a very visually stimulating spectacle.

Michael Fassbender is just outstanding as Bobby Sands , as is Liam Cunningham as the priest. It is the exchange between these two characters half way through the film which seems to bind the film together. Either side of the conversation we have the political background to the dispute (through the well timed use of Thatchers speeches on the troubles); the inhumane conditions and brutal beatings of the inmates and a graphic depiction of Sand's deterioration after hunger strike begins. It is the conversation between Fassbender and Cunningham which gives us the political and moral arguments; real humanity expressed over life's worth, political and religious values and hopes for the future and memories of the past. McQueen shoots this in one long take (over 17 minutes long and the longest ever recorded in film) so the viewer can see the whole exchange from an impartial view, we almost feel as if we are eavesdropping on it.

I am still left with the same emotions and thoughts about the film, perhaps even more so after a second viewing. It's harrowing and artistic; but more than anything, 'Hunger' is an important film.