![\"Hen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Hen-Review.png\"\/)
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The film\u2019s opening sequence makes this starkly clear from the outset. A visceral close-up of a chicken\u00a0mid-laying\u00a0cuts to mechanised conveyor belts ferrying eggs (and, soon enough, fuzzy yellow chicks) through their various life stages\u00a0\u2014\u00a0contrasting the vitality of these living beings with the bleak, metal-clad emotionlessness of mass-scale farming. The prodigious fowl of\u00a0P\u00e1lfi\u2019s title is one of many birds destined to be discarded.<\/p>\n
The result is an understated, remarkably moving portrayal of the hen\u2019s emotional existence.<\/p>\n
But a second shot at life arrives when a farmer fortuitously leaves a window in his vehicle\u00a0open, and the heroic hen bolts for freedom.\u00a0In a series of what can only be described as action sequences, the hen\u00a0wends its way\u00a0through protests,\u00a0markets\u00a0and\u00a0shops,\u00a0and navigates\u00a0a close call\u00a0with a fox, gradually getting its bearings in this unfamiliar,\u00a0manmade\u00a0world.\u00a0P\u00e1lfi\u2019s drama relies heavily on the\u00a0star power of its animal protagonist\u00a0\u2014\u00a0played by eight talented real-life chickens\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and cinematographer\u00a0Giorgos Karvelas\u2019 roving camera\u00a0honing\u00a0in\u00a0on minute details in the hen\u2019s behaviour and the outer environment. The result is an understated, remarkably moving portrayal of the hen\u2019s emotional existence.<\/p>\n
This endearing birdie often eclipses the humans of the tale, though. The wayward hen winds up being taken in by the gentle-natured proprietor of a seafood taverna (Yannis Kokiasmenos); in turn oppressed by his mobster son-in-law (Argyris\u00a0Pandazaras). Their\u00a0portion\u00a0of the story is significantly leaner, meaning the connection the film tries to make between\u00a0human\u00a0and animal suffering\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0feel robust.\u00a0Yet this hardboiled parable is fascinating\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and, with help from\u00a0Sz\u0151ke Szabolcs\u2019\u00a0droll score, funny\u00a0\u2014\u00a0at every\u00a0turn, and\u00a0is sure to make you think twice next time\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0in the egg aisle of the supermarket.<\/p>\n
This Hungarian-language drama is a wild, surreal, harrowing and funny ride that may even win you over to veganism. Think Chicken Run for intellectuals.\u202f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a battery-farm chicken escapes death\u2019s clutches, it finds sanctuary in a seafood taverna on the Greek coast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337],"class_list":["post-687236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}