H & G Directed by Danishka Esterhazy (review)

Danishka Esterhazy’s H & G is a modern reworking of “Hansel and Gretel” set and filmed in Winnipeg, Canada. Harley (age 6) (Annika Elyse Irving) and his older sister Gemma (age 8) (Breazy Diduck-Wilson) are the children of Krysstal (Ashley Rebecca Moore), a beleaguered single mother living in poverty and struggling to feed her family. When Harley and Gemma find themselves lost after Krysstal’s abusive boyfriend abandons them far from home, they are taken in by Brendon (Tony Porteus), a pig farmer, who cares for them and feeds them but seems to have more sinister motives.

H & G clearly shows Esterhazy’s love of fairy tales and her understanding of what makes these stories appealing over time and generations. There is an element of timelessness that can be seen in many beautifully shot scenes, such as when Harley and Gemma wake after spending their first night alone in the woods and are shown playing in the fields, exhilarated by their sudden freedom and lost in the world of childhood. The timelessness of this idyllic scene, dappled with morning sunlight and children’s laughter, is in stark contrast to the very real and modern dangers facing the children as cars speed by on a nearby road and the darkness of the forest looms ahead.

These moments are paced well, with the camera lingering on the children’s happiness and then quickly cutting away as Gemma realizes that she is now responsible for Harley’s safety. She hurries them along to find help; she no longer has time for childish things. This is another central theme in H & G: the biggest threat to children may be the adults in their lives, and in order to survive, they must grow up, too soon, and leave childhood behind. This has been Gemma’s role from the beginning: taking care of Harley when her mother neglected to do so and coping with responsibility far beyond her years. Breazy Diduck-Wilson is perfect in her portrayal of Gemma; she is seething with anger at her mother, resentful of Harley’s carefree relationship with Brendon, and afraid of the situation in which they find themselves but unsure of what to do next. Unable to locate their mother, the children are forced to stay for days at the farm in a situation that gets more dangerous as time passes. Although Gemma’s instincts tell her that they should escape, she is also aware that home is not necessarily any safer.

On the website for H & G, Esterhazy states that she has always been interested in the portrayal of women in fairy tales, particularly the “demonization of adult female characters” (www.hg-movie.com/a-film-by-danishka-esterhazy/directors-statement/). H & G addresses this by replacing the witch with a threatening father figure but also in the representation of Krysstal. It is easy to read Krysstal’s actions as selfish, putting her needs ahead of her children’s and being careless enough to lose them. But Esterhazy’s representation of Krysstal is much more complex. We never doubt Krysstal’s love for her children, but she is also deeply flawed and stuck in a life of poverty, which leads to Harley and Gemma feeling neglected. The fact that we never see her again heightens this: Gemma tries to reach her on the phone daily but she never answers, the police never show up, she appears to have forgotten them. Esterhazy plays on social discourses of motherhood where anything other than complete self-sacrifice is demonized. Although the audience might view Krysstal with pity, Gemma, who is unable to see the larger circumstances of Krysstal’s life, simply feels betrayed. She cannot understand why Krysstal is not a better mother or why she appears to have abandoned them, and this drives her need to care for Harley; she can be that better mother. However, unlike traditional versions of the story, Krysstal is not represented as a heartless villain who abandons...