You know the part in Slumdog Millionaire where the kid literally jumps into a shithole? Imagine expanding that gritty shithole resolve into a feature length film and you get some idea of what Beasts of the Southern Wild aspires to be. This entire movie is like the slime hole of Empire without Yoda or Luke.
Instead of those force-y funboys, we get spirited six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis, a name as incomprehensible as the motivation) and her daddy, Wink (Dwight Henry). They live by themselves in “The Bathtub,” a swampy island on the wrong side of the levy. I suppose that’s the New Orleans equivalent of the other side of the tracks. The Bathtub is a shantytown and Hushpuppy has her own personal shanty to prove it. It’s like being homeless except for the lack of prestige. Wink does just enough parenting to be really bad at it — like when he takes their “raft” (a converted pick-up truck flatbed on barrels) out and shows her how to fish by sticking his hand in the water, grabbing a catfish and then encouraging her to beat it to death with her fist. And when the fish bites her, the response is “that’s gonna happen.”
Wink, debilitated from a blood disease, is not long for this world. Hushpuppy even has a few days to herself while daddy is in the hospital — this is where it is hard to tell reality from fantasy. Hushpuppy learns in “school” of an ancient giant pig-like creature called an oryx — and suddenly several oryx appear in the film. So what’s real here? Did Hushpuppy really have a day to herself? Did the levy actually break, flooding The Bathtub? The feds claiming the stubborn residents, did that happen? I’m confused. If you ever see the latter half, explain it to me, will you?
So, why oh why did anybody decide that filming a confusing fantasy with a backdrop of filth was a good idea? Here’s how I think this went down:
Director: Check it out! They gave me $1 M to make a film!
Director’s friend: What kind of film are you going to make?
Director: Not sure yet – Not sure. I’ve got this space/fantasy Star Wars sci-fi thing in mind with cool explosions and awesome backdrops in mind. It will be hard to keep it under budget, but if I scrimp on cast, I think I can make the film I want.
**two weeks later**
Director’s friend: How’s the outer space film going?
Director: Er … uh …
Director’s friend: What happened?
Director: I kinda went to Vegas and blew the movie budget on craps.
Director’s friend: Uh oh, whaddaya gonna do?
Director: I dunno [pauses a moment, then snaps fingers] I’ve got it! I’ll film in a junk yard and make an unknown child my lead. It will cost next to nothing.
Director’s friend: What about outer space?
Director: Outer space, schmouter space. Fantasy is fantasy. The child will have weird visions and crap; we’ll call it art and appeal to pretentious snots. It will be very …
Mostly what I will take from Beasts of the Southern Wild is how much I don’t ever wish to go back one day, come what may, to blue bayou. What a dump.
Hushpuppy and father in a filthy sty
This six-year-old fighter will bring a tear to your eye
They live in ‘The Bathtub’ and yet after an hour
Ironically, I needed about a three-year shower
Rated PG-13, 93 Minutes
D: Behn Zeitlin
W: Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Genre: Junkyard
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Hobos
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Hypochondriacs
I saw this movie and confess I did not like it overmuch; however, I feel moved to offer up a few positives after reading your review, to suggest where the film earned your two stars.
The film’s (less humorous) genre is Magical Realism–where a story runs along with real people doing normal things (there’s a kid, the kid has a dad, they’re poor, etc.) but elements of magic enter into the story (unicorns, for example, or the oryx of the movie). Some well known writers in this genre are Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Not saying I like this style, I’m just saying plenty of well-known and even critically acclaimed writing is done in it. The uncertainty about what is “real” and what is “fantasy” is part of the magic (or so I’ve been told…).
I thought there was some good acting in this film–the little girl was alternately charming, moving, disturbing–so often children have the wisdom of adults in film through their precocious, timely (and frankly annoying) verbal observations, but Q. Wallis was eerily, somberly adult with her face, eyes, and body language, but few words. She does do the voiceover for the entire film, but it’s still pretty spare. While I didn’t love the story action I was seeing, I couldn’t take my eyes off HER.
Also, yes, the parenting wasn’t perfect, but it was probably reasonable for the standards of The Bathtub. The dad didn’t strike me as a bad parent–for some reason I could dismiss many of his questionable actions because they seemed normal for the setting/story/character.