Critcially Accalaimed, loved by many, including President Obama. Beasts of The Southern Wild has solidified itself in the history of film. Shot on a budget of 2 million it became an unexpected hit. All with new actors, writers and directors.
We're introduced to Hushpuppy, a six year old girl who lives in The Bathtub. A small fishing community separated from the rest of Louisiana by a levee. Hushpuppy is a smart girl who is learning about nature specifically Aurochs in school. One day her hot headed dad Wink goes missing. Eventually he shows up in a hospital gown, having gone to the mainland to seek treatment. He's dying from some unnamed issue. In a fit of rage Hushpuppy shuts the shack she's been living in on fire. Wink chases her and eventually smacks her. Hushpuppy promises to eat birthday cake on Wink's grave and punches him in the chest. He collapses due to the pain.
Hushpupy runs for help but finds people evacuation due to a hurricane. Wink shows up and takes her home after telling the residents not to run. With a storm coming Hushpuppy takes shelter in Wink's shack. There she cries when the hurricane comes. Wink goes outside and fires his shotgun into the air. After the storm Wink and Hushpuppy go rescue those that were stuck. They feast and celebrate. However, after a few days of celebration they realize the water isn't receding and the salt water has killed their crops.
Wink and a group of friends go plant dynamite on the Levee. Miss Bathsheba, the local teacher attempts to stop them, knowing if the levee is damaged they'll be rounded up and forced back into the city. She's unaware Hushpuppy stowed away on the boat. Wink commands Hushpuppy to hit the switch, and she does, destroying the levee. Soon residents of The Bathtub are rounded up and placed in a shelter. There Wink fights being treated, and plans a fake escape to get Hushpuppy put into an orphanage. Hushpuppy refuses to go without Wink. The residents return to The Bathtub.
With Wink getting sicker Hushpuppy takes a boat ride to a floating nightclub called Elysian Fields in search of the mother she never knew. There a waitress tells her that she can only depend on herself, and admits she might be Hushpuppy's mother. She offers Hushpuppy a place to stay. Instead she returns with some food and stays with Wink until he dies. Afterwards they light his body on fire for the funeral pyre and throw a parade.
I think the film is beautiful. Dwight Henry and Quevenzhane Wallace are both incredible in their roles. The other characters have minimal roles, but when they appear you remember them as they're all thought out well. There are plenty of incredible scenes to look at. Despite that, I don't like this movie.
In my opinion the film is poverty porn. I consider poverty porn material that attempts to tug at the heartstrings even when it might not necessarily be true. Take for example, Feed The Children has lead to millions of people to believe that Africa, the entire continent, is in a perpetual state of famine. When in reality, they rose to prominence during the 70s and and 80s during the last Ethiopian Famine. There are still poor people in Ethiopia, but there hasn't been a famine since the 80s and still they run with this narrative choosing only to say "Africa," instead of a specific country. But it's pornography and the orgasm comes when well meaning people donate that twenty-five cents a day so they can feel as if they've changed the world for the better.
No matter how beautiful the film or how ell the actors performed it is still poverty porn. The entire story is simply, poor people struggle or one long Feed The Children Commercial. We see that Wink and Hushpuppy live in a dilapidated shack and raise animals to eat. This is the same way Feed The Children commercials start. We see Hushpuppy eating, mouth covered in chicken grease. This is the same as the now famous picture of the child eating from a wooden bowl of rice. We're shown how the Bathtub is poor and school is a one room shack. Feed The Children will show us the same shack, and the towns dry water pump. But, it isn't without happy moments, they show us a feast after residents survive the storm, this is like when Feed The Children shows us everyone at the long table eating, more rice. The parades are just the same as when we're shown all the kids playing soccer. It's poverty porn, but the orgasm never comes because there is no donation box afterwards.
I've seen other reviewers claim that the relationship between Wink and Hushpuppy was cute or beautiful. No, that's an abused child, dealing with some trauma. We wash Hushpuppy burn her shack because she's mad at her dad, and openly states:
When daddy kill me I won't be forgotten. I'm recording my story for the scientists in the future. In a million years, when kids go to school, they gonna know. Once there was a Hushpuppy and she lived with her daddy in the BathtubClearly, both of them are a little messed up. Hushpuppy doesn't really know how to show affection, because she's rarely shown affection. Wink telling her she can't cry because he's dying is what they believe affection to be. I understand that everyone's relationships with their parents is different, but this one is abusive. She doesn't want Wink to die, but it feels more like that's because she doesn't really know anyone else.
Wink refuses to allow anyone to show any affection towards Hushpuppy, and he only does so when she behaves how he wishes. During the feast scene one of the residents is showing Hushpuppy how to crack open and eat a crab, Wink gets enraged and demands that she "beast it," or break it in half with her hands. The residents become silent, fearing Wink until Hushpuppy breaks the crab open, and they cheer and Wink finally embraces her.
The film is even insulting to the people it's based on. A lot of the small fishing communities are at risk in Louisiana for various reasons. Erosion, pollution, and rising waters are just some of the big ones. These people know that. The film plays it as they're too stupid to know otherwise. Yes, they knew that Sea Water was killing the crops and that the water wasn't going to recede because of the levee. But, then the film pretends they're too stupid to realize their community is dying. The people in these communities know they're at risk. They live that way for many reasons. The first being, some of them would rather die than conform to what society thinks is the correct way of living. The second is, there's nowhere to go. Even in the film, we see everyone sent to an already filled shelter. There's no place set up for these people. There's no programs to help them, but the film portrays them in a way that we're supposed to feel bad as if they're stupid.
I think the film has great emotional moments and it is incredible to look at. The actors are spectacular, and if we look at things purely on a scale of good or bad film, it's great. However, when we look at the entire thing, I can't recommend it. Unless you enjoy looking at beautiful scenes of post hurricane destruction, poverty porn or watching kids get manhandled. If that's the case, you're going to love this one.
You can check out some of my fiction at 12 AM Fiction or follow my web serial Exsanguinate and of course hear me on the Powerbomb Jutsu podcast.
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