Movie Review: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Wallis as Hushpuppy and Henry as Wink.

Whist in the Land de Ports I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild. After seeing the trailer and reading a basic exposition, I was excited for what this movie could be, yet I had some apprehensions about how gritty it might become. To my delight, what I found was a movie filled with competing hard and soft themes that pulled back and forth to make an absolutely beautiful film.

Beasts is the story of a six-year-old girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) and how she sees herself fitting into her real and imagined universe. Hushpuppy and her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), live in the bayou in a squatter's community. Although the community itself is tight knit, it is immediately and starkly clear that Wink expects his small daughter to be nearly completely independent. In fact Wink and Hushpuppy even live in separate "houses" that are several yards apart. But almost as immediately, within a tense fire scene, you also understand that Wink loves Hushpuppy dearly.

At first it's difficult to understand Wink's treatment of his daughter. My worldview shouted at me that Wink wasn't protecting and loving Hushpuppy and he was condemning her to a life of poverty. Without giving anything away, as the movie unfolds, you slowly understand that Wink is doing no such thing, and that his seeming harshness is born out of tenderness towards his daughter.

In another hard and soft juxtaposition, director Benh Zeitlin makes it very clear that Hushpuppy's living conditions are far from what average Americans see as appropriate, but at the same time he does not focus or dwell on the squalor. Instead he shows us remarkable innovation born of necessity, and he helps the audience to find the beauty in the seemingly bleak. The film never becomes so dark or gritty that it detracts from the heart of the story, which is a testament to Zeitlin's craft.

I came out of a Beasts with a feeling of wholeness and peace in a story well-told, which is difficult to come by in film today. Not only was I engaged and entertained, but I learned something about a walk of life that was previously foreign to me without a "point" or propaganda being thrust into my face. If you couldn't tell by now, I highly recommend this movie.

Hushpuppy proving she's strong at the tender age of six.