Hanna: Coming of Age in a New Way

There are countless examples of the coming of age story throughout cinema history, from Star Wars to Forrest Gump. Films that try to reach the realm of human experience, films whose heroes and heroines go through a journey of exploration to come out on the other side a transformed individual. In other words the coming-of-age tale represents a journey from ignorance into understanding.

            This certain story structure is so innately part of the human experience that audiences are almost unaware of its existence. It pervades  unconscious thought so regularly that audiences seemingly except this storytelling device as a central part of the movie going experience. Films such as The Matrix and Star Wars  expertly explore and define this idea of the coming-of-age story. In both of these films the heroes grow as it were, from an ignorant child to an enlightened adult. In both  cases the heroes are already grown men when they begin their journeys to "adulthood". Though this growth is not related to appearance, but instead to the accumulation of knowledge, it is through this knowledge that both of these characters are able to accomplish the journeys on which they are set. It is therefore a reasonable assumption that a person's perception of growth derives not from a change in appearance, but instead from a gaining of wisdom.

            This idea of gaining knowledge is prevalent throughout most cinema that attempts to use the coming-of-age as a mode of storytelling. Knowledge therefore, is a prime component of this particular storytelling method however, what if this stalwart idea of gaining  wisdom not only reinvented   the coming-of-age story,(to which it is so integral) but also reversed it completely? This is the case with Joe Wight’s spy thriller Hanna.

            Hanna opens with an atypical shot for a spy thriller, in fact the whole opening sequence is atypical for this particular genre. The audience is given a blank slate, literally. They are thrust into a snow white forest which calls to mind fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, and the three little pigs. The film seeks to place the viewer in this fairytale world, although this particular world is far from the fairytale stories that one is use to hearing as a child. This along with the coming-of-age mode of storytelling  emphasizes the need for rebirth in order to start on a journey of transformation. Hanna allows for this birth to occur in these opening shots. As the movie begins  the audience is born into the world of the film as the opening shot slowly comes into focus to reveal  a snow covered forest.

For all intents and purposes the forest represents a person's journey through life, in fact in the first two minutes  the audience is witness to both life and death. Director Joe Wright juxtaposes the purity and newness of nature with the death and destruction of that very same nature. This idea of birth and destruction directly correlates to how Hanna is introduced. It is worth noting that Hanna is a teenager who grows up separate from society and modern culture. Though this is the case, when the audience is first introduced to her she is already fully aware of the world in which she lives. She is far more capable and knowledgeable than any of her peers. In a sense Hanna has surpassed her contemporaries and has reached adulthood. Yet Joe Wright frames this opening series of shots as a birth and not a death. However, death must come before there can be life, and so it does here, first by her hunting and killing the deer, and second by her father's proclamation, "You're dead I killed you. ”as she is prepping the deer carcass for skinning.  

            Hanna’s rebirth begins  immediately as the next shot shows her dragging  the deer carcass back to her father's cabin. Hanna is  a newborn child illustrated by the fact that her father reads to her out of a dictionary as if it were a children's storybook. However, the book is no storybook which is further evidence to the fact that Hanna is a fully functional and capable adult, albeit one who wishes to seek the knowledge of a child. The film represents  not so much a de-evolution of an adult into a child but,  instead suggest that a childlike knowledge is needed in order for a person to be complete. Furthermore this journey back to childhood allows Hanna to obtain the full human experience, and the necessary wisdom to wholly comprehend the world.

This journey back to child is  peppered with references to  children's literature and Grimm’s fairytales. In most cases these references are simple allusions and nods  to the classic stories that further inform the point that Hanna is a journey back to childhood.

Hanna’s  plot is rather standard for a spy thriller. It tells of a young girl who is raised by her father for one purpose, to avenge the death of her mother by tracking down and killing the one responsible. In the end Hanna discovers that the man who raised her is not actually her father, and that Marissa Viglar is the person responsible for her mother's death. Marissa is also the head of the government program which Hanna's  father is a part. Furthermore the program was created to see if it is possible to manufacture the perfect soldier.

Therefore, from the very beginning Hanna is treated as if she were an adult and she is  given no opportunity to be a child. It is Ironic that her journey back to childhood begins with her seeking out the person who killed her mother, an event that destroys Hanna’s chance to live a normal life.

As mentioned, there are several scenes in the film that illustrate Hanna’s birth into the world. One such scene occurs right after Hanna is captured by Marissa. The sequence opens with Hanna confined in a circular room lying on a metal table in the fetal position. The room is lined with dozens of security cameras. As the sequence progresses Hanna escapes the room and discovers that she is a prisoner in an underground research laboratory. In her escape she navigates through several different circular hallways and tubes which ultimately lead her out into  a desert. This entire sequence calls to mind the birth of a child, beginning in the stomach and ending with the child coming out into the world . It is worthwhile to note that during her escape Hanna acquires a pistol which she loses as she climbs out into the desert,  leaving her with nothing but the clothes on her back.

This imagery allows the assumption that Joe Wright is constructing a coming-of-age story in reverse. Hanna has nothing save the clothes on her back as she walks through the desert of life. Until,  she meets Sophie and her brother Miles. Sophie is a world-weary teenager who is under the impression that she knows everything, and that she has figured out life and all its mysteries. In other words Sophie is a stereotypical teenager.

            Sophie is the antithesis of teenage culture, she is a young girl who is obsessed with the idea of celebrity, and who is just now beginning to explore her sexuality. It is interesting to note that Sophie is the first teenager that Hanna comes in contact with. This is interesting because even though Hanna is far ahead of Sophie intellectually  the two characters are on level ground in regards to sexuality. Sophie may even be ahead of Hanna in this respect because Hanna has no working knowledge of the world outside of the knowledge that she has gained through books.

            Hanna, in a sense journeys through  her teenage years with Sophie and her family, experiencing the ups and downs of adolescence, the happiness that comes from love and the sadness that comes from loss. Her teenage years come to an end when a hitman  tracks her down and assaults her. She incapacitates her assailant and escapes to a meeting place that she and her father decide upon.

             It is during this final third of the film that Hanna fully embraces  fairytale motifs. In fact the place where Hanna and her father are supposed to meet is even referred to as "Grimm’s House".  Along with the emergence of the strong fairytale motifs, the audience gets the sense that Hanna is finally reaching her journey’s end, her childhood .

            This idea comes out of the fact that the majority of the final act occurs in an old theme park, a theme park that is filled with references to several fairytales. It is during this final sequence that Hanna discovers the truth behind her birth and the death of her mother. This then cements the fact that Hanna is indeed a coming-of-age story told in reverse. The character is not only able to fully discover who she is throughout the film, but also discover the mysteries surrounding her life. She is able to avenge the death of her mother and complete her journey of transformation from adult to child, further emphasizing the point that a person needs a childlike knowledge in order to fully be aware of the world.

            With Hanna Joe Wright is able to take the time honored  structure of the coming-of-age tale and rework it so that it is new and fresh. In Hanna the reversal of the coming-of-age story structure allows for a greater examination into how a person develops over the course of their lifetime. Wright’s exploration of this idea spans the majority of his work, from Atonement to The Soloist.   With Hanna this concept comes to a head, creating a very unique and thought-provoking piece of cinema.