Beasts of the Southern Wild

Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry, Gina Montana, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes, Pamela Harper

Dir. Benh Zeitlin
Scr. Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a beautiful, sad, empowering story which, it seems, has captured the hearts of many. With four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, this wee film is punching well above its weight. And all power to it. A compelling, magical story with some top acting, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But if you want to see something different, something less polished, something that will stay with you, see this film.

Beasts is the story of Hushpuppy, a young motherless girl living with her father in a small bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a massive levee. Her imagination knows no bounds and she seemingly lives in harmony with the natural world around her. A fierce storm and a sickness drastically alter her life and outlook and she must adapt to the overwhelming changes these events bring.

It all sounds very noble and high-minded, but there is little piousness or overwrought emotion here. The story moves along at a clip, with a quiet charm and melancholy that captures you right from the start. First time feature director Zeitlin is not trying to preach at his audience. And yet one can learn much from Hushpuppy – her bravery, her holistic outlook, her optimism. Beasts is what you might call a quiet achiever.

You mind also find Beasts a welcome respite from the bangs-and-whistles worlds of recent blockbusters. Filmed with a budget of around $1.5 million, there’s nothing digital at work here. Some might find discomfort with the frequent use of hand-held cameras and, at times, a lack of clarity of picture. But don’t mistake this for amateur film-making. There is much beauty in Beasts and the mystical creature motif is, for the most part, seamlessly integrated.

Beasts hinges greatly on two key performances, both superb. Hushpuppy’s father (Henry) is clearly a man who cares for his daughter, but in his own special way. Henry captures this perfectly and gives a heart-breaking and heart-warming performance. Wallis is the real star here though and her Oscar nomination is well deserved, though I doubt she will win. She has wisdom and a great deal going on behind her eyes. Her Hushpuppy is both naïve and haunted. Utterly bolshie, but still such a little girl.

This film is not for everyone. For my money, it’s one of the most visceral films I have seen in quite some time. It is also incredibly poignant and unusually beautiful. Highly recommend if you think it’s your sort of thing.

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Hushpuppy: When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me lying around in invisible pieces. When I look too hard, it goes away. And when it all goes quiet, I see they are right here. I see that I'm a little piece in a big, big universe. And that makes things right. When I die, the scientists of the future, they're gonna find it all. They gonna know, once there was a Hushpuppy, and she live with her daddy in the Bathtub.