The Birds (1963)

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The Birds (1963) – A. Hitchcock

Whenever I revisit The Birds, I find myself somewhat genuinely surprised again that it is much weirder and slower than I remembered. This isn’t a movie where the heroes successfully battle a creature that may attack at any time but instead it features an ominous change in the world where nature has turned against humans.  But why? Seemingly the birds have turned against us at random, although many writers point at Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) as potentially responsible. After all, her wayward prank – lying to Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) and then bringing him lovebirds (in a cage, of course) – seems to have set something off (although gulls were amassing in the San Francisco skies even before this incident).  She is also wounded somehow, abandoned by her mother and in need of love – from Mitch or from _his_ mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy) who is distant and suspicious. Poor Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), Mitch’s former flame, is sidelined but doesn’t seem to hold any animosity toward the others (that might be the source of any negative energy riling up the birds). Hitch himself provided a hint when he suggested the film was about “complacency” (according to Robin Wood). Have humans cordoned themselves off from nature, creating comfortable safe routines and habitats for ourselves? Or worse, have our practices compromised nature itself, such that it needs to fight back? I’m not suggesting Hitch was an environmentalist but, seen today, the selfish preoccupations of Melanie, Mitch, Lydia, and Annie clearly pale in comparison to the wider problems the world faces.  It’s no wonder the birds are pissed off.  And, yes, if you are looking to see birds swoop down on children, tear at people’s flesh with their beaks, and gouge out their eyes, you’ll find it here too.