One scene shows a prison cleaner sweeping bleach into piss for five minutes. Another has a doctor dabbing weeping sores and ulcers on a man’s back with antiseptic. Towards the end, IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) sits on the shitter and, well, you’ll have to see… Or not.

Visual artist Steve McQueen’s exceptional personal-political drama debuted at Cannes this year to a packed cinema full of viewers watching through their hands. McQueen’s harrowing, unrelenting take on Sands’ story makes The Machinist look like Fat Camp.

More on Hunger.