A remarkable meditation on the balance
of nature and the inevitability of change, rookie feature director
Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild chronicles the
life-changing odyssey of a little girl and her small community as
they attempt to keep their way of life afloat following a cataclysmic
event.
Six-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis plays
Hushpuppy, a fiercely curious child with simple yet profound
knowledge about the way the universe fits together. In her bayou
shanty town affectionately entitled The Bathtub (a marvelously
constructed film environment that brims with character), she lives
with her father Wink (Dwight Henry) and an assortment of free-range pets
whose heartbeats she is always listening for – a reassurance that
the pulse of the universe is still ticking. When news comes that a
terrific storm approaches their low-lying tract of land, many head
for higher ground, but Wink and a handful of other holdouts
stubbournly stay to spite this catastrophic occurrence. Meanwhile,
ancient beasts known as aurochs – think Erymanthian Boar, but
bigger – are thawed out of the southern polar icecaps, and migrate
north out of hunger towards the now sunken Bathtub. With their homes
below water, the ragtag group of swamp dwellers band together and eke
out a survival plan, while Hushpuppy watches and learns, all the
while looking for a way to fix the broken piece of the universe and
set things right once more.
Much like the small beasts that
Hushpuppy holds up to her ear, Beasts of the Southern Wild is
a movie with mesmerizing heartbeat of its own. Melding social
overtones of Hurricane Katrina with strokes of magic realism, Zeitlin
and co-writer Lucy Alibar (author of the play on which it's based)
have fashioned a life-affirming modern fable underlain by themes of
environmentalism, community, and above all, change. It's the
implacable forces of change that are physically manifested in the
film by the fantastical aurochs. What stands to be seen is whether
Hushpuppy will resist these forces as her father has, or embrace and
master them. The relationship between Hushpuppy and Wink is a
tenuous, fluctuating one, and it's also one of the films most
brilliantly evoked elements. The odd whirlpool of emotions they share
transition seamlessly between love and anger and back to love as the
roles of caregiver and dependent shift from old to young. These
feelings are given captivating face by Wallis and Henry, whose
performances merit major awards attention.
For a first-time helmer, Zeitlin's
craft is impressive in its detail. Alex DiGerlando's production
design lends eccentric credibility to The Bathtub. Ben Richardson's
grainy, intimate hand-held camera work captures amazing images
without indulging in overt flashiness, cut together nicely by
Crockett Doob and Affonso Goncalves. But perhaps most surprising for
an independent rookie effort was the effectiveness of Steve
Boeddeker's enveloping sound design, which perfectly balances
production audio with Wallis' inner monologue, the vital sound
effects, and the wonderful score (which Zeitlin himself co-composed
with Dan Romer). This gripping, powerfully wrought fairy tale of hope
and coming of age is surely one of the best films of the year.
**** out of ****
