'H3' is a universal story of endurance and courage set inside Europe's most secure prison, the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. Here, in H3 - the bleakest of all the H-blocks - a group of young republican prisoners hold out for what they believe in, refusing to be labeled as criminals or co-operate with prison authorities. However, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is determined that these Republican prisoners will be treated like all the other common criminals in British jails, ending a special regime which allowed the inmates political status to organise life inside the jail along POW lines. The republican prisoners immediately start a 'no-wash' protest, refusing to wear prison-issue clothes or perform work duties, a protest which results in their being locked in their cells for hours on end without exercise, recreation, reading materials and with only blankets to wear for heat...
Acting
Brendan Mackey's wordless suffering speaks volumes
Direction
Les Blair shot inside actual Maze prison ruins
Production
The cell block becomes a character—filthy, suffocating, real
Director
Les Blair
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Les Blair filmed inside the actual Maze prison during its 2000 demolition, capturing the real H-blocks as they were being dismantled—no set could match that institutional bleakness.
The 1981 hunger strikes transformed Sands into a global revolutionary icon; this film deliberately focuses on the forgotten foot soldiers whose names never made headlines.
GB
