Getting the second day of the 2017 WOW film festival off to a flying start, Min Bahadur Bam’s The Black Hen is a charming tale of friendship, family and hens in the Himalayas. But whilst the film is truly sweet, the sweetest of the festival so far, it has a tough political undercurrent running beneath the surface.
Set in a 2001 Northern Nepal village, it tells the story of two best friends, Prakash and Kiran, who defy their separate social creeds to raise a hen that has been left to Prakash by his sister; a motherly figure who runs away to fight in the Nepalese Civil War. And so when the boys’ hen is stolen, the two set out to find it, not just so they can sell it’s eggs, but to retrieve the last vestige of his beloved family member.
Things start off very gentle and calm, with the film’s director seemingly taking a step back from too much creative manipulation. Instead, it’s as if he steps back into hiding with the camera, shooting whole scenes from behind the tall grass or trees of the mountain. As a result, these almost-still images perfectly capture a snapshot of a time and a place, a window through which you are virtually transported to the beautiful Himalayan landscape – to the point where you can nearly feel and breathe in the cold air.
To complement the shooting style, the performances have a natural quality to them that often make you feel like you are watching the documentary. In fact, the only giveaway that you aren’t is a result of film’s eye-widening and lush photography.
The script from Bahadur Bam and Abinash Bikram Shah draws plenty of smiles throughout, largely due to how well the relationships between the boys and their families are written. Things quickly take a turn to the devastatingly serious, however, as the film’s finale sends the two friends into dangerous, life-threatening territory.
Suddenly the tensions and politics that have been bubbling beneath the surface throughout come to the boil, at a point where you’ve become so invested in the characters that you’ll be left on the edge of your seat. One can’t help but think that was the filmmaker’s plan all along, to lull his audience into a false sense of security before putting them through the emotional wringer. If this was indeed the case, then it certainly had the desired effect. This one is sure to stick with you for a while.
WOW Film Festival opens at Chapter cinema in Cardiff on Friday 17 March before heading to Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Small World Theatre Cardigan, Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea, and Theatr Clwyd in Mold. See www.wowfilmfestival.com for full details.
words JOE RICHARDS