Beasts of the Southern Wild

In Benh Zeitlin, a young, talented American film director who is not interested merely in following the beaten path, has finally arrived. Form and content reinforce one another in an extraordinary story that is completely tied to its unique location: the deep south of Louisiana. The film portrays the handful of proud, independent people who live beyond the dikes on land below sea level, which is gradually becoming submerged. Do not call the poverty harrowing or the circumstances primitive without listening to their story, and don’t ignore how attached they are to their last, shrinking piece of wilderness and accompanying freedom. Our guide to this mythical country is the six-year-old Hushpuppy, 
a role played by the fascinating Quvenzhané Wallis. She is the strongest and boldest heroine we’ve seen this year. Her terminally ill, alcoholic father rears her to be a survivor. Wink does not intend to flee the Katrina-type hurricane that threatens to devour them.

Surveying the rugged and endangered life in the delta through the eyes of Hushpuppy allows Zeitlin to skirt politics and realism. In her imagination, the melting ice caps release gigantic primeval oxen that are stampeding right towards them. She doesn’t intend to budge. Great story.

Beasts of the Southern Wild ●●●
US, 2012, dir.: Benh Zeitlin, act.: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, 93 min.