Directed by Benh Zeitlin

Starring Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry

Grade: A

How does a single father, who knows he’s dying soon, prepare his young daughter to live in a harsh world all alone? Not harsh in the abstract, every day sense that we all battle with, but harsh in the sense that survival depends on strength and fortitude. At the heart of Beasts of the Southern Wild lies this question. Wink (Dwight Henry) tries everything in his power to prepare HushPuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) for a hard life on her own. They live in a tiny island bayou community known as The Bathtub, where the local icecaps are melting and flooding the village. He teaches her self-reliance on a daily basis and won’t allow her to ever wallow in any sort of self-pity. Somewhat ironically, the only thing he attempts to shield her from is having to watch her father die. If this is a simple father-daughter story, it would be one thing, but it’s also something else. I had trouble, initially, putting my finger on just what that something else is, until I realized it’s not that complicated. The setting, the bayou island, is both familiar and exotic, a reality we can latch onto and identify with the struggles and also a landscape totally foreign. This is what movies are capable of, they can transport us to worlds like this, into the lives of those we never think about. The cinematography is so beautiful and terrifying. This is what film has over the novel, the use of the visual medium to drive it’s story, rather than hiding behind it.

The plot is simple: Wink and HushPuppy live in The Bathtub. There is a small, but lively population that coexists with them, and the island community feels very much like a family. When a major storm hits, and wipes out most of the town, including killing several people, it gets things moving. For one thing, the government takes notice and they come in and take the survivors to a refugee camp where Wink is given medical attention. Everybody escapes, choosing to live and die on their own terms rather than be merely another gear in the government machine.

Quevenzhane Wallis, as HushPuppy, got a lot of attention for this role, becoming the youngest person ever nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. She deserves every ounce of praise she’s gotten, and more. She brings a natural strength that is necessary to a role that is at risk of drowning in all the pain. More importantly, she plays a kid. What I mean is that she’s constantly confused, in the dark, and scared. She’s by no means clueless, she understands her dad is sick even when he won’t tell her, but her confusion helps us, the viewer, to enter this world. Through her, The Bathtub doesn’t feel like a strange place, but rather a home like and unlike any other. Dwight Henry as Wink, plays her father as an incredibly hard man, and hard drinker. He’s a guy that has no patience for weakness, especially in his daughter. At one point he refuses to let her use a utensil to crack into a crab, she must instead use her hands and her mouth. Such is the nature of their life. Wink never loses his humanity though. Through all his tantrums, rages, and benders, there is never a second where his love for HushPuppy is doubted. He’s a widower, and a man that has known pain and loss all his life.

The setting and the feel of this movie, as much as the story and performances, are what separates it from anything else. It feels authentic and fantastic at the same time. That the movie ends with HushPuppy finding the strength necessary for her harsh life probably goes without saying, but it feels earned and it’s refreshing to have a big emotional ending without feeling manipulated. I say this with, hopefully, as little pretention as possible: Beasts of the Southern Wild is simply a gorgeous film.