Director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin’s debut feature Beasts of the Southern Wild is a film best experienced without preconception, expectations or advanced warning. Unfortunately for me and anyone that wasn’t at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival the cat is out of the bag and we can’t unlearn what we already know, but that isn’t to say this film doesn’t have a few lessons left to teach us. I may not ultimately adore the final product on the same level as those that saw it without any prior knowledge, but I enjoyed it on a high level all the same.
Most who watch Beasts of the Southern Wild won’t likely find common ground with the film’s lead characters, most important of which is a six-year-old girl who goes by the name of Hushpuppy played by Quvenzhane Wallis who is going to move you to your very core. Her soft features, untamed hair, disarming eyes and quizzical demeanor will have you following her every move as she navigates the wilds of the southernmost Delta community in Louisiana referred to as “the Bathtub.”
The threat of destruction is on the horizon as the waters could rise at any minute and wash away all that Hushpuppy and her father (Dwight Henry) know. This includes their pet pig, their chickens and the shacks they call their homes as the marshlands surrounding their residences are just as much a part of them as their own skin.
Raised as one with nature, Hushpuppy’s outlook on life is more mature than most adults. Abandoned by her mother at a young age and raised by her father with a stern hand to live off and respect the land, she is prone to listening to the heartbeats of the animals surrounding her, seemingly absorbing their life force. Even when she isn’t able to hear a thing, such as when she places a leaf to her ear, hears nothing and looks at it with a knowing shrug — “I know there’s life in you,” I imagine her saying — before she goes on to eat it with what would appear to be a full comprehension of the circle of life.
Hushpuppy narrates the feature as well as serves as our eyes and ears in this world. As the narrative pushes forward her father falls ill, the ice caps melt, tales of the ancient aurochs — seen as giant boar-like beasts standing at least six feet tall — are told and the rains soon arrive, bringing havoc to the small Delta land. Eventually, their homes and land are declared unlivable by those inhabiting “The Dry Land”, a derogatory term Hushpuppy’s father uses for those living on the other side of the levee, but for Hushpuppy and the other inhabitants of the Bathtub, all that’s important is maintaining their way of life, free from human advancements that ultimately cause more harm to the Earth than good. As Wink’s father puts it, when he can’t drink beer or catch catfish any longer, his time on Earth has come to an end. What else is there to life?
Like I said, these aren’t people we will necessarily be able to relate to, but the connection is made. In some ways, for some of us more than others, you’ll feel as if the film is speaking directly to you and I can imagine Beasts will touch people’s lives to the point it brings about change. What will be just as interesting is those that take nothing away from it and in that nothingness searching for the reasons why.
I’m not saying the film changed me or my outlook on life in any specific way, but it would take a lot of cynicism and/or ignorance to entirely dismiss even the most basic of the film’s themes. You could boil it down to having respect for your parents, doing good unto others, helping those that aren’t as strong as you, respecting the world around you and so on. Further down the line it will get even more personal as Hushpuppy defiantly stares into the eyes of the beasts come to destroy her, but that’s something you’ll have to experience for yourself.
For a young actress to command such attention as achieved by Quvenzhane Wallis is a true sight to behold. It takes a certain level of self-confidence just to take on the role of Hushpuppy, but once you see her opposite the also impressive Dwight Henry, some of these scenes are going to have you busting. To hear someone as young as Wallis read some of her lines with such maturity and confidence is uplifting to say the least.
Additionally, the career of Benh Zeitlin will now be watched very closely as he has tapped into something primal with Beasts of the Southern Wild. With characters few of us can specifically relate to, instead of bringing them into our world, Zeitlin brings us into theirs. In the case of this film, we are the fish in the muddy waters that make up the Bathtub, struggling to survive where Hushpuppy and those around her thrive.
The sound and the fury of the Beasts of the Southern Wild will be felt, from the pounding hooves of the aurochs to Ben Richardson’s glorious cinematography and an original score provided by Dan Romer and Zeitlin himself. Like I said earlier, there is something to be said for going into this film fresh and if you know too much or have read too much positivity your experience may be lessened, but I find it hard to imagine anyone could possibly walk out without having been moved by the drama you just witnessed.
