CineTV Contest: The Birds.
Seagulls, crows, sparrows, starlings (love-birds) rebel against society without reason or logic in a coastal town called Bodega Bay. The Brenners live there: Lydia (widowed only four years ago) and her two sons, Mitch and Cathy. A wealthy young woman from San Francisco, Melanie Daniels, accidentally meets Mitch Brenner and, infatuated with him, arrives unannounced in the small town with the apparent purpose of delivering a birthday present, a pair of love-birds to little Cathy.
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Coinciding with Melanie's arrival, the birds of the place begin to show offensive behavior, without the reason for their attacks being known. These, however, are increasing throughout that fateful weekend, which transforms the idyllic place into a scene of unprecedented horror.
The arrival of the stranger is not looked upon favorably by Lydia, who feels threatened and doomed to loneliness; it also provokes a certain suspicion in Anne Hayworth, a teacher at the local school and former romantic partner of Mitch Brenner.
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The entire plot of the film is based on a strange event that changes the lives of the inhabitants of the community. The situation with the birds translates into a growing concern, the characters rehearse various explanations of what is happening with the birds: there is talk of a storm at sea that has brought the seagulls inland; the possibility of a disease or epidemic is also mentioned, the town drunkard speaks of the end of the world; and Mitch Brenner's terrified mother holds Melanie Daniels directly responsible for what is happening to the birds.
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However, the reason for the attacks is never effectively revealed. We, the spectators, never get to know why what happens.
In The Birds the behavior of the birds is unplanned, and very violent. Violence, in this sense, acts in waves. It is not continuous, but intermittent and progressive.
The origin coincides with the arrival of the stranger (indeed, the attack is directed at her); and the last attack (at least, the last one seen on screen) is also reserved for Melanie Daniels. She is present at the beginning and at the end (of the violence. This is the only thing we directly know about the birds.
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Hitchcock suggests that the wild animal nature does not want to be tamed and that in this unwillingness could be found an explanation for its attacks.
In the end, a change is brought about in the family, which from that moment on considers the new element as a full member. The mother tenderly embraces a brave young girl who is in shock after the final harsh attack she received, an attack that almost cost her her life. A change of attitude that can benefit them both, the mother who recovers her role of security and her son's companion who finds a woman to lean on in difficult moments.
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The enigma of why the birds attack is left open, and leaves the viewer with a sense of uncertainty.
This film presents some explicit scenes of bird attacks, such as the one where Mitch's mother finds a corpse almost entirely eaten away; or where Melanie is attacked by dozens of birds, in a violent and claustrophobic shot. The animals indiscriminately attack children, adults and the elderly.
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The Birds shows the genius of the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, who tells us a story in which he demonstrates that with the necessary doses of mystery, suspense and terror, a romance between two people can twist into a battle for the survival of man against nature.
This 1963 film is based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier and stars Tippi Hedren (Melanie Daniels), Rod Taylor (Mitch Brenner), Jessica Tandy (Lidya Brenner), Suzanne Pleshette (Annie Hayworth) and Veronica Cartwright (Cathy Brenner).
The soundtrack is provided by the squawking of birds, so it helps to intensify the viewer's fear that the birds have gone mad and are out there, waiting for mankind to leave their homes to eradicate it.
Tippi Hedren, was locked in a room where a dozen real birds were attacking her. There were no special effects, they were real birds and one of them scratched her eyelid.
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The film reminds me of a fact that I witnessed many times when I was a teenager and which even managed to affect me: the urbanization where I lived: next to my building there was a very tall tree which passers-by avoided passing under, because there lived small black birds that plucked people's hair, and were very aggressive, if you scared one of them in fractions of seconds they attacked you in a group and pecked you. When the tree was taken down for multiple complaints, an explanation was found as to why these birds pulled hair from passersby, this hair was the preferred material of the birds to make their nests, and of course there was hair from other animals such as dogs and even cats.
This is my entry in CineTV Contest #81 - Favorite Movie with a Wild Animal Link Here.
A pleasure to share with you, I hope you enjoyed reading this publication, good luck to all participants.
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This film is without a doubt a masterpiece that has become a classic, I love it.
Saludos por aquí. Esta fue una de las primeras películas que ví del director y siempre quedé con la duda sobre porqué atacaban, pero imagino que se debe un poco a algunas de las cosas que mencionas. Sobre todo eso de que los animales son indomables y la naturaleza a veces es violenta y eso no tiene que tener sentido para nosotros. Por cierto, muy curiosa tu anécdota, sabía que los pájaros hacen nidos con varias cosas pero no que podían actuar en conjunto al sentirse atacados. Buena reseña.