Beasts
Of The Southern Wild is the debut feature for
writer/director Benh Zeitlin, and a sure shot to stardom for both him and the
two leads also in their debut roles. It is at once a realistic and magical
story, that unfolds through the eyes of six-year-old Hushpuppy (the
Oscar-nominated Quvenzhané Wallis) in the
wake of the flooding of her isolated everglades society, and as her father’s
(Dwight Henry) mysterious heart condition worsens. It is a beautiful tale of
maturity and realisation that will have you laughing, crying and empathising
more than you have in a long while.
The film is shot using handheld
cameras, unconventional framing and jump cuts, suggesting a documentary feel to
the film, yet we are still privy to the emotion of Hushpuppy, something that
could easily be missing in such a style. The camera is often at her height, and
the use of her as narrator helps us attain a connection, although it is simply
Wallis’ performance that keeps us there with her for the duration, a stunning
turn for the eight-year-old, the likes of which have not been seen for years.
The documentary style is intertwined
with ambiguous visuals- are they Hushpuppy’s dreams or are they really
happening? – including the icecaps melting, and prehistoric aurochs being
unleashed and stampeding towards Hushpuppy’s bayou community. Then there is the
narrative strand of Hushpuppy’s estranged mother. At all times faceless, we are
never sure whether the woman Hushpuppy finds solace with is her or not. These
magical vignettes are seamlessly placed in the film, giving the whole story a
mystical edge, adding another layer to a film that may otherwise fall into the
trap of being simply affecting and nothing else.
The use of the melting icecaps, and
the fact that a storm nearly wipes out their tribe-like existence (an obvious
nod to Katrina) may seem a little preachy at times, but no more so than Pixar’s
environmental references, which hardly attract criticism.
What is worth noting is how apart
from one mention of New Orleans, their island is fictional and there are no
other temporal or spatial anchors. Therefore, their lifestyle is simultaneously
regressive, almost caveman like and yet post-apocalyptic. The relationship
between Wink and Hushpuppy is one of harsh love, with survival at the core-
they are not idealists. There are no pretentions for them, and this comes
across in the filmmaking too. Wink nearly always refers to Hushpuppy as ‘man’
and even suggests she will be ‘king’- with no maternal figure and
unconventional society dynamics, everyone has developed (or regressed to) a
hunter-gatherer instinct. At age six,
Hushpuppy has her own lodgings, cooks for herself, and when her father becomes
to ill, she adventures and discovers by herself too. What seems like a terrible
nightmare, is for some, a reality, a realisation that Zeitlin is attempting to
get across to first-world audiences. The scenes in the hospital are not an
attack at corporations and consumerism but a primitive hatred of the
‘different’ – infrastructure and modern medicines are the enemy.
This film teeters on the edge of
being too serious, but ultimately falls on the right side of the levee, allowing
us a sensitive, beautifully crafted look in at another world, another time of
human existence that is current and historical, real and fantasy.
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