There are many films that portray how interacting with animals is a beneficial experience for suffering humans. Many motion pictures have shown this with canines, but there are also those that have portrayed the rapport with marine creatures like the Best Documentary Feature Oscar My Octopus Teacher; with equines such as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse; with wild bears like Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man. Disney animated films have lead the way with pictures like The Jungle Book and Ratatouille. Recently, a live action film has appeared on the scene directed by three-time BAFTA winner Philippa Lowthorpe, adapting Helen MacDonald’s non-fiction memoir, that focuses on the protagonist’s healing interaction with a Finnish goshawk, inspired by a true story.
H is for Hawk follows Helen (Claire Foy) a professor at Cambridge, who has a strong bond with her friend, Christina (Denise Gough), her brother James (Josh Dylan) and her mother (Harriet Walter). But above all her strongest bond is with her father (Brendan Gleeson). When he passes away unexpectedly, Helen sinks into a deep emotional abyss. This leads her to avoid social contacts with other people, but at the same time to develop a strong connection with Mabel, the hawk she trains that gives her a new purpose to emerge from depression.
The film delivers the perception of admiring a nature documentary, as viewers are plunged into the wilderness, following the protagonist’s wanderings. There is a remarkable attention to imagery and detail, from Mabel’s plumage to the rituals of their coexistence and hunting. This realistic visual representation, seems to draw from Philippa Lowthorpe’s early career as a documentarian, when she made in 1994 Three Salons at the Seaside, considered by the Grierson Trust as one of the ‘50 must-see documentaries of the last 50 years.’ H is for Hawk also possesses the feminine perspective that Philippa Lowthorpe had previously displayed in her miniseries Three Girls.
Furthermore, the British filmmaker reunites with Claire Foy, that she had previously directed in the second season of The Crown. The actress’ performance stirs deep emotional reactions, as we watch her inner torment and obsession that emerges in every frame. Concurrently, Brendan Gleeson conveys the charm and magnitude of the gentle father figure to whom Helen was so strongly tied. The onscreen chemistry between the parent-and-daughter will quietly, yet profoundly, move hearts.
The fine-drawn script — that the director co-wrote with Emma Donoghue — projects on Mabel a passion that Helen shared with her late father, that of studying birds. This metaphorical handover embodies how the departed ones, we have deeply loved, continue to live on with us, through the teachings they’ve bestowed to us and the experiences that we’ve shared with them. Spectators will leave the screening room cherishing the mantra of Helen’s father as a life lesson for when we confront loss and grief: “Don’t give up.”
Strong, wild and free is how Helen ultimately becomes under the influence of Mabel. Interacting with a non-human creature, with whom empathy is conveyed through a non-verbal language, becomes therapeutic for this wounded human. No exchange of words is required, just presence. Love unleashes its power in its most primordial form: reciprocal care. The human woman becomes the archaic bird, the phoenix, as it resurrects from its ashes ready for a renewed existence.
With H is For Hawk Mother Nature newly acquires its central role in our lives. Helen at one point criticises openly ‘The Man Theory’ that conceives history as the outcome of human action, ignoring societal and environmental factors. The narrative demolishes this anthropocentric model, leading to what is defined as “an honest encounter with life.” The film ultimately shows how the wilderness turns out to be more humane than human beings.
Final Grade: B+
Photos credits: Courtesy of Roadside Attractions Publicity
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