Hen

Why did the chicken cross the road? Perhaps she was simply in search of a better life….

Hen is György Pálfi’s stunning tale of a determined chicken — played by eight real-life Hungarian chickens named Eszti, Szandi, Feri, Enci, Eti, Enikő, Nóra, and Anett — who departs her wretched life on an industrial farm in search of a safe spot to raise her chicks. On her tumultuous voyage, she encounters the darkness and cruelty of humankind.

Landing in a lacklustre restaurant in a Greek seaside village, our plucky protagonist is captured by the elderly proprietor (Yannis Kokiasmenos), who lives under the yoke of his daughter’s criminal boyfriend. The adventurous hen navigates human and chicken pecking orders alike, bearing witness to common thievery and the predatory figures involved in the migrant crisis.

Writing alongside frequent collaborator Zsófia Ruttkay and using a completely innovative approach to storytelling and an “eggstatically” bold intervention into the heroine’s journey, director Pálfi makes an impression rarer than hens’ teeth, telling a “fowl” fable of revenge through the tiny eyes of his feathered lead.

Giorgos Karvelas’ dynamic camerawork combines with Erik Mischijew’s astonishing sound design and Szőke Szabolcs’ score, creating touching interspecies arcs amid the hardboiled saga. Pálfi’s penchant for investigating human sin through unconventional methods produces a deeply moving and, at times, devastating story as universal as it is unnerving.

DOROTA LECH