Review of The Birds (1963) by Ahmedaiman9999 — 13 Aug 2018

Well, I'm so glad I sold my Budgies and Cockatiels before I watch this movie. Because this was pretty darn disturbing!

The Birds finds Hitchcock at his very best building up the tension and creating suspense. The way the minor details are revealed in this movie is enough to make you glued to the screen throughout the whole movie, but I already know that Hitchcock is the best in doing this.

What I didn't know before watching this movie is that The Master of Suspense is also a Master of Symbolism!

Many people consider The Birds as one of Hitchcock most modest films, even some of his fans. I can see why, and it's simply because the movie seems that it left a lot of very important questions unanswered. I said it seems because it really did answer these questions symbolically.

I won't spoil anything for those who haven't seen this gem yet, but I'll just point that the key to all these questions is a very important character and everything related to it.

Just try to think which character the movie gave it a lot of exposition, and you'll easily understand the whole movie. And there is where I've an issue with The Birds. I think it gives a lot of explanations to this character that we don't necessarily need to because the movie expose some details what have already been revealed before. That being said, all characters are well-grounded, compelling, interesting, and necessary to the plot.

All the performances were excellent, specially from Tippi Hedren who played the movie's protagonist. She is a wonderful actress, and her performance in this movie is nothing short of endearing. She is as charming as Audrey Hepburn!

Some few decisions the characters made, may be one or two, are not so subtle, but the execution of the results to these decisions is what annoyed me a little bit. The characters seemed forced to fall into the trap.

Although there is some blood and gore in this movie, Alfred Hitchcock proves again that what the scenes imply can be way more brutal than what they show. The scenes when the titular creatures attack are very painful to watch. Adding insult to injury, the birds acquire a metaphorical complexity that is as distressing as their beaks!

Overall, The Birds is a very underrated Hitchcock film that doesn't lack any of Hitchcock's unparalleled brilliance.