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Guest Celebrity Blogger: Juhi Pande, Hanna

Guest Celebrity Blogger: Juhi Pande, Hanna

Malini Agarwal
Juhi Pande

When I grow up I want to be Hanna.
I’m pretty certain every girl …. & boy watching this film thought this at some point of time.
I want to go on & on and rave about this film but that might be putting off so I’m going to take it slow.
The film opens quietly, establishes itself well & moves in beautiful, smooth lines when it comes to the story. That’s your one line dull review. Now on to the interesting part.

Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a 16 year old girl who  has lived in a forest her entire life with her father (Eric Bana) who is  a former CIA agent, who has taught her everything he knows, turning her  into a rather young, lean, mean, killing machine. It doesn’t stop  there. Hanna is fluent in several languages  & I’m certain she knows most of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica by  heart. But since she has lived in a forest her entire life, with  absolutely no human contact except for her father, leaving her little  cocoon would be rather dangerous, especially since she has an arch enemy  in the shape of Marissa (Cate Blanchett) and that’s when the fun  begins. Hanna has been told at the beginning of the film by her father that Marissa is the big bad wolf who will eat Hanna up if she doesn’t slay her.

Hanna

And so begins Hanna’s journey into a world she  has complete knowledge of but no experience in. You can see the beauty  of her innocence in a few frames during the film, but for the most of it  she remains stoic and composed. It’s almost like Jason Bourne got  into a time machine, had a quick sex-change and then bleached his hair  blonde.

Joe Wright has done a stellar job in giving this film the right amount  of grit and edge. Cate Blanchett & her obsession for clean teeth  make her a super villain. And I’ve been a Saoirse Ronan fan ever since I  saw her in The Lovely Bones. Together, they prop the film in a  manner that it can’t really fall.

I loved the fairy tale references in the film. The visual appeal in  certain instances is very magical, albeit dark magical. Young Hanna is all alone in a world she doesn’t really belong in, fighting a dark  force at every turn, with a witch at her heels. Throw in a run down,  defunct, amusement park and you have yourself a cinematic treat.

If this isn’t reason enough for you to watch the film then I have two  words for you – Chemical Brothers. The entire soundtrack of the film has  been done by them and OH MY GOD! What a soundtrack it is. Each critical  sequence is lifted up, spun around, brought crashing down and then made  to soar again all thanks to some fantastic seamless music which takes  from the film and builds into some serious aural pleasure.
Do yourself a favour, go watch the film.