Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Magnificent!  Creative! Oscar Noteworthy!

You will be haunted by this exquisite film long after it is over. Quevenzhane Wallis was only 5 she was discovered and asked to play the part of the young child. She was almost like a wild child with survival skills. She loved the animals and birds and would cuddle up to the birds as if they were part of her. She was left mainly on her own to survive. She and her father lived in the worst poverty in shacks in Louisiana. The poverty was startling. A few simple folk (mainly alcoholics) lived in squalor in this low lying land. Off in the distance can be seen the high electrical towers. The dam divided the two sides. We are constantly warned that a storm is coming and it will wreak havoc in this area.

Hushpuppy, as she was called, lives with her alcoholic father. You have the sense he cares about her but never shows it. He does curse and slap her a few times. The two never change their clothes throughout the film. She wears underpants and a dirty T shirt. Most of the time she wears white rubber boots which are necessary to walk through the ‘muck’. Wild pigs and chickens roam freely. Cooking is more than primitive. Sometimes her dad goes off and she is actually on her own for days. She meagerly gets by. She often calls out to her mother and talks with her. We never actually find out what happened to the mother. Apparently she was a beautiful woman but left the home scene.

At one angry moment she says to her dad,” I hope you die. After you die I will go your grave and eat birthday cake all by myself.”

The storm comes and the water rises. The people are asked to leave. They refuse. They gather together in a shed and make a party. There is a lot of drinking and eating crabs and shrimp.

The destruction is horrific. I constantly had Katrina in mind as I watched the devastation. At one point they are forced to evacuate. Her father is discovered to be very ill and hospitalized. These people could not live in the shelter. It is hard to understand because it was clean and they were well looked after. They sneak away and go back to their destroyed shacks.

Throughout the film we see wild beasts running cross the terrain. It added a folk like quality and mystical aspects to the story It is fun to speculate what the film maker really intended. I immediately thought of the Maurice Sendak children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are.

I felt as if the wild animals were symbolic of   the wild life these folk were living in this poor terrain. It added a folk like quality and mystical aspect to the story.

The young girl was so unbelievably great in this film. Her pouting looks and gestures were right on. Dwight Henry plays the part of her father. Apparently he is a baker and has also never acted. Amazing performances!

I saw the father and daughter characters interviewed on TV. She is now a few years older and a very self assured precocious young lady. Henry is a gentle handsome man. He was so dirty in the film that it was hard to see his features. What fun to see these two attractive people dialoging together in a TV interview.

This is an amazing story of struggle. The added touch of fantasy adds to the total picture. I definitely see Academy Awards looking in this direction.