H is for Hawk

In 2014, a memoir called H is for Hawk, about a goshawk and the person who trained it, became a surprise best seller.

Helen Macdonald took on the task of rearing a goshawk in the aftermath of the death of her father, Alisdair. It did not seem a likely source for a film, but writer/director Philippa Lowthorpe (The Crown, Swallows & Amazons, The Other Boleyn Girl, Call The Midwife), along with novelist Emma Donoghue (Room, The Wonder) have achieved something remarkable with this wonderful adaptation that captures the essence of Macdonald’s book.

Claire Foy plays Helen Macdonald, a journalist and writer who is deeply upset when her beloved father (played by Brendan Gleeson) dies suddenly. Helen had been a falconer when she was younger, and decided to take on the rearing and training of a goshawk, a raptor which is notoriously difficult to manage. 

The book and the film are not only a memoir of grief, but also a history of falconry and a reflection on T H White, best known for writing a series of books about King Arthur including The Sword In the Stone. White also reared a goshawk.

The film beautifully captures the complexity of loss and recovery, and the part played by the relationship Macdonald builds with Mabel, the goshawk.

“The impressive thing about Philippa Lowthorpe’s assured direction and the script she co-wrote with Emma Donoghue is its resistance to easy sentimentality. This is undeniably a story about grief, loss and trying to cope with it all. In lesser hands, the film could have gone for cute animal stuff to lighten the load, but H Is For Hawk never succumbs to that temptation, and quite frankly, goshawks don’t make it easy for that to begin with it. Coming from Plan B productions, Film 4 and others, this is a film that doesn’t pander for tears, but genuinely earns them. It is the stuff of life.”
Deadline

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with local director Philippa Lowthrope.