BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012)

This was a year of grand disappointments and unexpected triumphs. While major blockbusters failed to deliver on the promise of their predecessors, great films were made by people no one knew of, or expected anything of, or who had been written off. But when the odds are stacked high against you is often when true genius shines through. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD is a force of nature, very much in that age-old tradition of cinema that has been followed from PATHER PANCHALI to WHALE RIDER—idealist debutante director, cast of unknowns and non-actors, guerrilla filmmaking, pure magic. So unaware of filmic conventions that breaking them is effortless.

It tells the story of a 6 year-old firecracker called Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) and her dad Wink (Dwight Henry), who live in a southern Louisiana bayou community called The Bathtub, which is isolated and somewhat self-sufficient, cut off from the rest of the world by a levee. The residents of The Bathtub look at the steel towers and factory turrets of the “rest of the world” gleaming out beyond the levee, and thank their stars that they live on the saner, more beautiful side of that wall. Like Hushpuppy says, “Daddy always saying that up in the dry world, they got none of what we got. They only got holidays once a year. They got their fish stuck in plastic wrappers. They got their babies stuck in carriages. And chicken on sticks and all that kind of stuff.” The Bathtub people are perfectly happy where they are. They might as well stay there forever.

Of course, not everything is rosy down there. Wink knows that sooner or later, things are going to get tough. Out at the mercy of nature and a conformist society that constantly tries to “rehabilitate” them, he knows that his daughter needs to toughen up. She can’t be a pussy. The Bathtub doesn’t tolerate pussies. The Bathtub people don’t cry at funerals, they drink at them. When a flood ravages their little town, they blast down the levee to let the water drain out. When they eat a crab, they don’t cut it open with a knife. They “beast it”. And Hushpuppy is one tough little nut. When she wakes up sometimes to find her daddy gone, she just sets about cooking her own food, catching fish on her own and when her sick father returns, she brings him medicine from the town healer. This is one of the most charming parent-child stories I have ever seen, a story that keeps its ears and nose close to the earth, taking in all the flavours and rhythms of the land, fusing the film with an euphoria that few can match. Nothing’s too sad over here, ‘cause “the scientists of the future are gonna find it all”.

This is Benh Zeitlin’s first film and I pray he gets the chance to have a long career. This is a name to watch out for. Finally the Americans have a new director to rival the furious vitality, quicksilver gaze and sheer visual dynamism of Fernando Meirelles  and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guy Ritchie. His camera flits around, capturing not just images, but a certain perception, a certain half-fantasy, half-survival story that’s perfectly in sync with the POV of the film, that of a 6 year-old motherless girl. 

The star of this film, the little dynamo Quvenzhane Wallis, is an absolute revelation. With a mane like a lion and a poise that would make grown actresses cry, she powers the film with steely eyes, set mouth and a scream that threatens to shred you apart. Dwight Henry, the baker-cum-debutante-actor playing her father, also puts in a powerful performance, drawing from his own experiences as a victim of Hurricane Katrina. They have a magnificent scene near the end, where Hushpuppy feeds Wink, that will have you reaching for a tissue.

The film has a wonderful background score, the very best I’ve heard this year and the lack of an Oscar nomination in this field is a gross oversight. The music pummels and whooshes along, a raw raucous earthy sound full of trombones and mandolins and violins. The technique doesn’t matter, neither do the notes—what matters is energy and heart.

An euphoric, powerful movie of the human spirit, starring a future queen of the silver screen, this year’s little movie that could. 9/10 for me.