Hen

by Mike McGranaghan

Hen opens with an extreme close-up of an egg being laid, and I mean an extreme close-up. That egg goes through a lot of sorting machinery before hatching. The peep inside then goes through more machinery, piled onto conveyer belts with hundreds, if not thousands of other peeps. Once grown, they’re all put in cramped containers that go on the back of a truck. All but one, that is. A dark brown hen is deemed unsuitable for eventual consumption and tossed aside. This bird is the heroine of the story.

You can tell right away that the film deals, in part, with the randomness of life, specifically the way fate sometimes puts us on a path we aren’t expecting. The hen finds herself in a series of predicaments as she wanders around. She manages to get inside a convenience store, as does the fox chasing her. She ends up literally trapped between a line of police and a group of protestors. Male chickens have their way with her. Eventually, she ends up living on a piece of property utilized by human traffickers. All Hen wants to do is lay her eggs somewhere safe.

There are multiple ways to interpret director György Pálfi’s intentions. Aside from the aforementioned “life is unpredictable” angle, it can certainly be read as a political allegory in which a downtrodden figure is either overlooked or exploited by those who are more privileged. At some level, the movie is a survival tale; poor Hen faces her share of dire threats during the 96-minute running time. If you don’t feel like thinking, the tale can also be seen as just the whimsical journey of a hen that was lucky enough to avoid being turned into McNuggets.

However you choose to read it, Hen is remarkable for the way it switches tones. Parts of the film are quite funny, others undeniably tragic. Like life itself, there are wild ups and downs. Things go swimmingly for the bird, only to have a new obstacle spin her onto a bad course. And when things seem most hopeless, strokes of great fortune fall upon her. Right here is where the magic lies. With minimal dialogue, our focus remains on Hen, and what we bring to her travels is a Rorschach test of our own worldviews. Spending an hour-and-a-half watching a bird roam around might not sound like the most scintillating experience in the world, yet there’s a hypnotic quality at work here. In watching this animal, you think about – as author Douglas Adams put it – life, the universe, and everything.

Pálfi made the decision to use actual hens in the production. Only in a few spots are they CGI-enhanced. Eight different, identical birds were used. That had to have been a logistical nightmare, given that they’re not easily trained and don’t necessarily take direction. The choice pays off, though, giving the project authenticity that keeps the audience’s eyes glued to the screen.

Hen would make a great double feature with EO, the 2022 Polish movie about an aimlessly drifting donkey who ends up seeing the best and worst parts of humanity. Both are about animals, but really about us. The world takes us where it wants us to go, like it or not. Our job is to persevere. Believe me when I say you’ll be rooting for the feathered cinematic proxy of yourself.