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Mef repressive regimes unknowingly produce works of opposition, then Hen could be a parting gift from Viktor Orbán’s right-wing regime. The compelling, original film, told from a chicken’s point of view, was only made because Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi could no longer make anything in his home country. 16 years of friendship with Orbán removed any chance of getting a film in Budapest, so Pálfi – who directed eight horror films, starting in 2002 with the voiceless first Hukkle until 2006. good looks and grotesque Taxidermia – were driven into exile. Searching for a universal story that he could tell even when filming in a culture or world he didn’t fully understand, he and his co-writer and friend Zsófia Ruttkay settled on a biopic about a factory-farmed chicken.
Chicken escapes from his dangerous environment, his birthplace in Greece, and, through his naturally funny eyes, we see the unfolding of a modern Greek tragedy, where one of the chefs is drawn into the brutal world of human trafficking.
I called Pálfi the day after Orbán was voted out and, like most Hungarians, he is smiling and relieved. He said: “Orbán was not a prime minister. He only supported those who voted for him, not all Hungarians. This was 16 years – and it got worse, every year, every hour. The new prime minister made a beautiful speech but, you know, he has 70% of the parliament, which means full power again. We can only hope that he will take control and take back the power. He is promising real democracy. “, so let’s look at things about democracy.
With no financial support available for independent film production HungaryPálfi first went to Mexico, slowly developing the idea of making his star a helpless chicken, whose travels would weave a human story. When the producer got the chance to film – and earn money – in Greece, the topic of human trafficking came to the fore. “If we find this little chicken facing a big human problem, then it could be a good film,” says Pálfi, who moved his family to Greece for a year “to learn about people”.
The film begins very deliberately, simply following the birth of our heroine and her escape from the chains of factory-farming. “If you go with the chicken after the first 15 or 20 minutes,” says Pálfi, “then somehow you become the chicken, and the people become superior, like the gods of ancient Greek mythology.” It’s very interesting.
After the chicken is rescued from the jaws of his dog by Giorgos, an elderly restaurateur whose dirty seaside business has been closed for more than a season, a human tragedy begins to unfold. Giorgos lives with his granddaughter and his distraught daughter whose erratic boyfriend brings smuggling – alcohol and sweets – to his doorstep. While the Chicken loves to hang out with the domestic rooster, Giorgos is drawn to a smuggling scheme: human trafficking. Europe.
To tell this story, Pálfi brought together eight leading women alike. Eszti, Szandi, Feri, Enci, Eti, Enikő, Nóra and Anett play the part of the black hen. Everyone was trained for two months before the shooting, to be “people friendly”. An animal trainer took care of them by painting them, and although Pálfi had trouble telling them apart, he soon realized that each chicken had a special power. One was running fast, the other was jogging and the third was quiet when needed. So they chose any star that would shine, according to the requirements of the event.
Because the ruthless shooting schedule required them to shoot 50 days in 35 days, the Greek actors had to accept a new rule: attaching chickens to the cameras came first. Pálfi said: “It was difficult for the actors to realize that they were last. And when they faced problems, they called the woman they loved the most: Feri. “He was not good at jumping, he was not good at running, but he knew everything. It was a joke. And if one of the chickens couldn’t do something because maybe they were tired or their stomachs were full, we’d say, ‘Bring Feri’ – and Feri would do it.”
Pálfi is famous for his experimental films, but being directed by chickens forced him to become more of a believer. He couldn’t deal with eight-minute shots or other high-tech art, so instead he “opted for old Hollywood myths and cinematic language. So the chickens made him ordinary? He laughs. “It’s another good attempt to make an ordinary movie.”
Normal-ish. Hollywood movies show their stars “somewhere in the neck” says Pálfi, so he shot the Chicken in the chicken’s eyes, using a low angle. In order to make his heroine as natural as possible, he did not use CGI on the chicken at all. But the CGI was put in to make the animal trainer disappear from the frame. In the beginning, Chicken finds himself on the roof of the aid station, followed by a wolf. Here, the scary scene happened because the wolf was actually on a leash that was removed later using special effects.
Hen serves as an innocent witness, through which we see the weaknesses of human nature clearly. At times, it’s as if her gaze on the necklace casts a judgment on morals. “But this is only happening in the minds of the audience,” says Pálfi. “A chicken needs to be a chicken.” Sometimes we play with what the chicken might think, but we try very carefully to use the chicken as a chicken.
There are funny, romantic scenes but the brutality of life for powerless chickens – and powerless people – is on display. The film’s revelations about factory farming – and the desperation we imagine a hen feels when her eggs are repeatedly plucked – may turn audiences into vegetarians, or away from factory-farmed chickens. But that was not his intention. He said: “Chickens are chickens and they bite, so they are not perfect people. But people should change their lives for the better.”
Hoping that life in Hungary will be a little better under the new government, Pálfi and his family are living in Budapest again. He wants to write a trilogy of animal films. Then there will come a monkey, living in a city in India. He has a Hungarian gangster story, too. “Not from the west, but from the east,” he says. I’m surprised when this long-time maverick of cinema says he’d love to make a mainstream movie, even though he’s still balancing between “mainstream and foreign cinema, which is the best movie of all time, you know – Kubrick movies, great Ridley Scott movies like Blade Runner. Art and mainstream.”
He hopes to get another chance to make films in Hungary. However, for now, the Chicken stands as a testament to the success of art over oppression. The heroine of the film gives a powerful comment on our time, too. “When we thought about the difference between animals and people, we saw that people have the ability to make moral decisions.
This fictional Greek restaurateur represents all those who accept the tyranny of the people – the Americans, perhaps, and the Hungarians. Pálfi said: “We gave our freedom to a terrorist group. Now the big question is, ‘Can we take it back?'”
