'Bobby Sands: 66 Days' is a Poignant Social and Political Piece
Back in 1981, Bobby Sands begun a hunger strike in attempts to draw attention to the horrendous living conditions in Maze prison, and try to notify the British government into acknowledging that IRA members were political prisoners. Unsurprisingly, his requests were not met, and 66 days later, Sands was dead — the first of 10 men who would starve themselves to death during the protest.
Bobby Sands: 66 Days works perfectly by placing Sands and the Maze hunger strike in a greater social and political context, laying it bare for all to witness. The structure of the documentary is broken-up and reflects away from the standard talking heads, archival footage style. Instead, it is methodically and contextually pieced together Sands' beliefs and the political climate of the time in a precise and thought out manner. It’s biggest triumph comes when passages of Sands’ diary are spoken. It’s in these most intimate moments director Brendan Byrne delivers heartfelt reasonings, even more striking is the fact Sands secretly kept this diary for the first 17 days of his hunger strike.
The subject of any IRA prisoner on hunger strike is never an easy situation to harness into a fair and rounded argument. They were a terrorist organisation but regarding it as a humanity matter, their rights were being neglected. Inside the walls of the prison, it was a personal strike rather than strictly political. However, on the outside, many used their situation for their own professional gains. This is delivered perfect by Byrne who uses those diary readings to highlight how politics gained from their personal struggles.
People closely related or affected by this situation will no doubt have strong opinions about this film — positively and negatively. It's a film designed to gets us thinking, divide opinion and get us questioning Sands' long-lasting effects on 80s British politics. At times the pacing can sway leading to uneven moments, with dramatic scenes sometimes not fully achieving their implied power. When the protest reaches its inevitable tragic climax, it's emotionally draining and delivers.
