My Favorite Hitchcock Film

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2016)

There is a famous quote from Hitchcock that goes something like this: "Suppose two people are having a conversation at a dinner table and there is a bomb underneath this table. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now suppose that the audience knows there is a bomb underneath the table and they know when it will explode. That is suspense."
Now I was paraphrasing that quote a bit, but my point is that of all of Hitchcock's films, this analogy applies best to "The Birds". Consider for instance the scene in which Melanie is waiting outside the school for Annie and the birds have already been established as a threat. It starts by Melanie sitting down on the bench, and in the background you can see a bird fly down onto a metal structure on the playground. She is waiting for the children to finish their song, but it keeps getting longer and longer, and it keeps cutting away to show birds coming down, one at a time, each time you think the song will be over. Eventually Melaniece notices a bird flying above her, and the shot of the bird flying is held for a while, so you begin to suspect something sinister about to happen. Then the bird comes down onto the metal structure, the camera still following it, to reveal the entire playground covered in a field of birds.
This isn't the only scene like this in the movie, however. In fact, practically the entire movie is like this. OK, yes, the special effects are a bit dated in some scenes, but that definitely doesn't take anything away from the overall terror of the birds. The thing that makes this film so suspenseful is the idea that the birds are constantly lurking over this town, and they can strike at any moment. This is thanks in no small part to the sound design. Even in the moments where you believe the characters are safe, you'll here a squawk or a flutter of Wings somewhere near them. And in the attack scenes, let's just say whatever the special effects lack in these scenes, the sound design makes up for. There is no non-diegetic music in this film, only the overwhelming squawking and screeching and scratching of hundreds of birds.
The fact that they never truly reveal why the birds are attacking people definitely adds to the suspense, but it really isn't relevant anyway. The birds are really a metaphor for the pressure the mother (and mothers in general) feel when the last person they truly understand is being taken away from them, and the pressure that Melanie (and Mitch to some extent) feels when the mother is trying to cling to Mitch and push Melaine away.
One interesting scene is the one that takes place in the diner. An old woman overhears Melanie talking on the phone about the birds, and decides to give them her two cents. She seems to empathize with them, saying they are misunderstood and mistreated by humans. A man comes in and says they are evil creatures and deserve to be killed. Then a mother who has heard the conversation from the beginning chimes in and says it doesn't matter, all she cares about is protecting her children. This scene adds to the metaphor by showing how other people view mothers and finally how a mother thinks. The old woman empathizes with the mothers. She understands them, and knows that most people don't. The angry man just thinks they're rude and rotten for no reason. The mother doesn't care. She just wants to cling to what she loves most.