Hunger is about a young man starving during the Bengal famine of 1943. He serendipitously crosses paths with his landlord and trouble ensues. It was written, directed, and edited by Junayed Alavi.

Hunger is slightly less than five minutes long. The pacing is quick. There is no fat or filler. Everything is straight and to the point. Thematically, it is not subtle. One might feel as if they are being preached to, but the lack of subtlety does help make it easy to understand for people who may not be well educated in the history of India. The sound is great. Some of that is the sound of a hungry man smacking on food, and this will inevitably turn some people away. There’s a solid score, but Hunger does use its score as a crutch. The score begs the audience to be in suspense even though events aren’t depicted in a way that fosters suspense. The score started blaring before the threat was established. To be clear, it was obvious who and what the threat was, but the music was asking the audience to be scared before the threat did anything. Shortly after the true nature of the threat was revealed, things became rather predictable. If one can’t guess what happens next, the music will tell him or her what’s going to happen. I believe it may have been more effective if the score was saved for the ending. I suspect that is when it would have had the most gravitas. Everything is in black and white, and that works well enough.

Hunger is very simple. It benefits from the fact that its message is universal, but it does struggle to establish its basic horror elements. You might learn something, but you won’t feel anything.