H IS FOR HAWK – Review by Leslie Combemale
Early in the new narrative release H is for Hawk, an expert in the field of falconry calls goshawks the “perfectly evolved psychopath”. Why, then, does research Cambridge fellow and mourning daughter Helen Macdonald want to commit to training one? The answer is examined through a cinematic adaptation of Macdonald’s award-winning memoir of the same name, chronicling the sudden loss of her father and her subsequent connection with a goshawk. She names her “Mabel”, because apparently, the adage “the softer the name the fiercer the falcon” is equally true for hawks. Audiences are witness to Macdonald’s highest and lowest points on her journey of loss, from shock to anger and depression to an inevitable point where she must move forward into acceptance. Though audiences are witness to some of grief’s lowest lows, this human and hawk and this chronicle of the way they move through nature, are a study in the transformational power of the human/animal connection.
Claire Foy plays Helen, and it’s clear that director and co-screenwriter Philippa Lowthorpe cast her film’s lead perfectly. The way of a falconer is a fearless way, especially with the razor-taloned and often aggressive goshawk. Foy is entirely believable in both her engagement with Mabel, played in the film by several trained goshawks, but still…, and her struggle with loss-driven depression. Foy’s Helen is warring with sadness and rage, and yet we see the comfort and respite (or, arguably, distraction) Mabel brings her. As real-life renowned photojournalist Alisdair Macdonald, Brendan Gleeson’s part may be limited, but there’s never a time when Gleeson doesn’t add depth to a film, and this is no exception. In flashbacks Helen has remembering her father, the actors are able to show just how important and meaningful their relationship was, and why Helen felt his loss so keenly.
Lowthorpe and the film’s producers must have been certifiable to take on so many scenes with a goshawk, but audiences are the better for them doing so. There are sequences with Mabel hunting that rival the intensity of any thriller, whereas the moments in which Helen is learning how to connect or gain the trust of her ornithological charge are poignant reminders of how nature and its creatures can comfort by their mere presence.
Both Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s cinematography and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch’s score are integral to driving home the film’s message of endurance and resilience. For anyone who has struggled with loss, especially when it is sudden, H is for Hawk will feel authentic and hopeful, even as it plumbs the dark depths of grief. Even better, those who have grappled or are currently grappling with grief, and also love the natural world and the creatures in it, will find a measure of comfort. I know I did.
4 out of 5 stars.
