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Beasts of the Southern Wild.
"Strong animals know when your hearts are weak, that makes them hungry, and they start coming."
screencaps by @filmgrab.
Have you seen Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)?
Yes
No
Haven’t even heard of this movie
Hushpuppy: You're my friend kind of. I gotta take care of Mom.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD [BENH ZEITLIN 2012]
SUBLIME CINEMA #238 - 12 YEARS A SLAVE
It admittedly took me a while to watch this movie, because I knew it would be harrowing experience, and it was, but it was also so skillfully made that I was gripped through and through. Images that come across like a sad Billie Holiday song, an unsettlingly beautiful meditation on the horrors of the historical American south.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Dir. Benh Zeitlin
“For the animals that didn't have a dad to put them in a boat, the end of the world already happened.”
Damn this film hits you hard. I hadn’t thought of this before but this quote is literally true. The end of the world has happened already for so many. So many animal species have already gone extinct, many more will be soon. All because of our poisoning and butchering. Yeah we are ‘top of the food chain’, but we have had the knowledge to know that we are killing the environment that other animals live off. I emphasize other. We are animals too...and we’re killing ourselves as well.
We follow 6 year old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) and her father (Dwight Henry) as they ride through a storm and figure out a way to survive in their impoverished bayou named the Bathtub. The adults in Hushpuppy’s life are broken and callused by their experiences. Her teacher teaches her about the coming cataclysm that’s due to global warming. Her father is always drinking and is contracting a bad sickness. These adults have a dreary yet very realistic view of the coming world and they want to prepare Hushpuppy how to survive on her own. The things is, Hushpuppy already starts off as a very resourceful girl. She, and the actress that’s plays her, have to balance between keeping her childish innocence and learning how to navigate the life’s harsh realities.
Hushpuppy’s daddy is central in her life, and the scenes of him interacting with her carry the most emotional firepower. He has a very harsh and loud way of getting through to her, trying to harden her so that when he inevitably dies she’ll be able to deal. And he tells stories about her mother that I think he feels are necessary for her to hear. So that she’ll always remember that she was loved. The actor Dwight Henry does a magnificent job because superficially speaking his actions say he’s not a very good father, but what he manages to convey, the love, the wisdom, that’s what great parents do.
Beasts, cinematically, is faultless. The subject matter is down to earth, almost literally, with the environment being dirty, leafy, and wet, so the camera shooting close the ground and trembling along with the rhythms of Hushpuppy, work perfectly together. And the images we see on screen feel too real. Like if we go down to a bayou ourselves we might see Hushpuppy there, playing with her chickens.
The extra layer that added something extra to the cinematography were the scenes of the mythical Aurochs that Hushpuppy’s teacher professes about. They’re a giant ancient beast that hunted the cavemen, before the Ice Age froze them out. We are to assume that Hushpuppy’s imagination brings them back to life in her daydreams, yet we see them walking the face of the earth heading for the bathtub. It’s a vision, a symbol, of magical realism I’m sure, but even if the Aurochs were there, literally, facing down Hushpuppy for anyone to see, who would see...save for the few residents of the Bathtub. They are a community discarded, no one is looking out for them. Around the country and around the world, communities like Louisiana bayous during Katrina, Puerto Rico after Maria, and Yemenis right now (to name a few) are sight unseen for those with the power to help. So who would really know if the ancient Aurochs marched down to trample through the bathtub.
Rating: 10/10
