Movie Review: Beasts of the Southern Wild

After receiving a few glowing recommendations, I watched Beasts of the Southern Wild this weekend, with no real knowledge of the storyline or plot. It is nominated for a few Academy awards (including Best Picture) so it was definitely on my watch list.

The story revolves around a 6 year old girl named Hushpuppy, and her life in a destitute community along the Louisiana bayou, called The Bathtub. Inherently curious about life “in the Bathtub,” she tries to make sense of her mystical, turbulent surroundings by listening to the living things around her – birds, dogs, chickens, plants.  Her ritual is to hold these small creatures to her ear, and listen.  “All the time, everywhere, everything's hearts are beating and squirting, and talking to each other the ways I can't understand,” she says. “Most of the time they probably be saying: I'm hungry, or I gotta poop.  But sometimes they be talkin' in codes.”

Hushpuppy’s daily survival depends on her instincts, and on her only remaining parent, Wink. We watch her journey,  how she copes, and tries to make sense of the world around her.  This movie is meant to depict the beauty of a lost culture, where people live off the land and commune with one another, in ways that are starkly different than traditional 21st century life.

I usually appreciate off-beat, unconventional, arthouse films, but this flick just didn’t do it for me.

Having seen poverty and shanty towns in real life, and depicted in film - this is one for the books. That said, the set design and cinematography were fascinating. I found myself amazed by the mechanics of how the film was shot in such unforgiving terrain.  The setting could have easily been any third world country, except it was present day Louisiana. It felt sleek and unscripted, and definitely had a documentary type quality. The film moved me, but perhaps, for all the wrong reasons.

First, it would’ve helped to know (beforehand) that this movie is considered a fantasy/drama, otherwise I wouldn’t have chastised when it veered into the ridiculous. Secondly, I felt an overwhelming discomfort about Hushpuppy’s forced existence.

Spoilers ahead:

I hurt for our narrator and protagonist Hush Puppy - a small, spirited, but feral girl who lives in complete squalor.  Due to the lifestyle her parents chose, she will never know what it is to have adequate food and shelter, electricity, clean running water, or new shoes.  Chances are she will never be exposed to art, literature, or life on a broader scale; beyond how to catch fish with her bare hands, or heat a tin of cat food for dinner.  These are the brutal realities of her poverty.  I understand the fascination with the characters in this film, but at times it most felt exploitative - an inch away from poverty porn.

During the film, Hushpuppy quietly mourns her mother (whom she laments simply “floated away”), and seems to yearn for a female presence in her life. She is under the care of her father, Wink – a gruff man with a violent temper, who has no patience for Hushpuppy’s inquisitive ways. She is taunted by her father (physically and verbally) when showing her vulnerability, sadness, or anger – which closely mirrored abuse.  Turns out Wink is trying to toughen up his daughter, to ensure her survival without him (we learn he is dying from a mysterious illness). Hush Puppy has no freedom, no choice, but to survive.

These scenes pulled me in an uncomfortable way – knowing that there is something vital to a little girl’s emotional and spiritual growth, the need for the love and tenderness of an attentive father, and the ability to play and discover the world on her own terms. Hushpuppy will have no chance to bloom.  The only skills she learns will prepare her for life and death in the Bathtub. There will be moments of joy and celebration, but hers will be a life lived in crushing poverty, illness, and struggle.

I was relieved when The Bathtub residents were rescued and forcibly taken to a shelter, though Hush Puppy had no skills to live in this strange, sterile new world. After a few days, they all escape back to the only life they knew – the bayou. (Perhaps the poverty you know, is better than the poverty you don't)

This flic is a mash up between Survivor, Castaway, and Hoarders.  Flawless cinematography and interesting characters, but too depressing to be triumphant.

6 out of 10 stars.