H is for Hawk

Hollywood has produced many films that chronicle the lives and adventures of birds and animals, i.e. birds, dogs, cats, horses, penguins, lions, bears, even elephants, and they are always a crowd pleaser--people are suckers for animals. So now we have yet another one appropriately named "H is for Hawk".

This is 2007, Cambridge, England. "H is for Hawk",based on a true story, follows Helen MacDonald (Claire Foy), who, after the sudden death of her father, (Brendan Gleeson) looses herself in the memories of their time birding and exploring the natural world together and turns the ancient art of falconry--rooted in European-tradition--training a goshawk she named Mabel to navigate her profound loss. But as she teaches Mabel to hunt and fly free, Helen discovers how deeply she has neglected her own emotions and life. What begins as an act of endurance transforms into an intimate journey of resilience and healing.

Others to round out the cast are Denise Gough as Christina, Lindsay Duncan as Helen's mom, Josh Dylan as James, Helen's brother, Sam Spruell as Stuart, Helen's friend, Garry Cooper as Charlie and Kamal Simpson as Director of Studies

This was directed with such poignancy by Philippa Lowthorpe ("Swallows and Amazons" '16, "Misbehaviour" '20) plus many TV movies, TV, and a short. The subtleness of how this director was able to coach Foy to respond in such quiet yet intense ways given the situation she was in was amazing. There were scenes where it looked like Foy was going to crack in half because of the intensity of her character, and this is talented directing. It was effectively written by Emma Donoghue ("Room" '15, "The Wonder" '22) plus a short, and Philippa Lowthorpe ("Eight Hours from Paris" (TV movie) '97, "The Other Boleyn Girl" (TV movie) '03, "Sex, the City and Me" (TV movie) '07) plus TV, based on "H is for Hawk" by Helen MacDonald. It was almost a rights of passage film for Helen in this--living her life, suddenly losing her dad whom she loved, having to deal with that and then realizing that, through hers and her dad's love for birding, she decides to attempt to train a goshawk with no experience except learning from her friend Stuart. And all this was a monumental task. This story was captivating and was such a different tale creatively penned well. Really, with the exception of it being a little long-in-the-tooth--a good 5 minutes could've been cut, this was a well structured script. The handlers, Lloyd Buck and Rose Buck were amazing in how they were able to train this hawk. 

If animal films are a type of film you like, this will be intriguing for sure. It's well directed and the acting, especially that of Claire Foy was perfection. It's a quiet film, so if you're into action=packed films, this probably won't be the film for you, but then again, one should know this before venturing to the multiplex.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                     Rated: PG-13                                       119mins.