Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

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nTitle: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

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nDirector: Benh Zeitlin

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nCast: Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry

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nReview:

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nThe idea that society is headed towards really bad times andnthat we better start getting ready for this coming “storm” unless we want to benswept away by it, is one that has been very popular in films lately. Take fornexample Jeff Nichols’s Take Shelter (2011) a film about a man who has thesennightmarish visions about the world being engulfed by a horrible storm. Thenmain character in that film starts to build an underground shelter to protectnhis family from the storm he keeps dreaming about. Take Shelter was a very darknfilm that used this premise of a coming storm to illustrate this fear of hownbad things could get in the near future. Taking in consideration the state ofnglobal economy, recent political events and how poverty, gas prices andnunemployment have all increased over the last couple of years, it is reasonablento come to these conclusions about a coming ‘storm’. One gets the idea that thenwhole world is going to go down the drain, flushed down the toilet back to thendark ages. These are some of the ideas that Beasts of the Southern Wild playsnwith.

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nNot unlike Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Wizard of Oz (1939),nLabyrinth (1986) or Where the Wild Things Are (2009); Beasts of Southern Wildnis a film about a child who has it so bad in life that she sometimes escapes tona magical land of her own conceit. In this imaginary land, gigantic god-likenwarthogs stampede through her town, destroying everything in their path. Nownwith films such as these in which characters escape to imaginary places,nwhatever we see in the fantasy world always has a representation in the realnone. It’s through these imaginary worlds that the child processes what he or shenis going through, to find some sort of sane way to deal with whatever it isnthey are dealing with. In Pan’s Labyrinth Ofelia had to deal with her fascistnstep-father and the abuse he was inflicting on the people. In Labyrinth, Sarahnwas dealing with becoming an adult and accepting her responsibilities in thisnworld and in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy learned that she had no one else tonrely on but her own self, the power to solve her problem was always within her.

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nOn Beasts of the Southern Wild, we meet a little girl by thenname of ‘Hushpuppy’. She lives in a town called ‘The Bathtub’ which is kneendeep in poverty. Her father, ‘Wink’, is the quintessential man whom life hasnbeaten. He is a drunkard, unemployed looser. He takes out his frustrations onnHushpuppy, whom he wants’ to control most of the time. Good thing Hushpuppy isnone of these strong willed kids who has a mind of her own; she’s taken commandnof her life at a very young age. She is only six in the film, yet psychologically,nshe’s such a strong little girl. She has her own personal points of views aboutnthe world she inhabits; thankfully we can hear her thoughts from time to timenas she talks about the universe and how we’re all in some small way a part ofnit. Her father knows how harsh the world is, so he trains her to be strong. Atnone point he asks Hushpuppy “Who’s the Man?” and she says with the meanest facenshe can conjure up while hitting the table with her hands “I’m the man!”  You’ll end up really rooting for Hushpuppy, she’snthe future of the world, but she’s strong willed and ready to battle the storm.Withnyouth such as these, you get the feeling that there’s hope for the world yet.

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nI liked this idea that the film was putting across; the ideanthat the world is caught up in a storm, adults are unreliable in their crazynways, yet the newer generations are willing to stand up to the madness going onnin the world. There are these beautiful images of a group of young kids simplynscreaming at the world, so symbolic, the idea being that it’s the newngenerations that are telling the older ones that the world is all wrong. Theynsee it for what it is and don’t agree with it. Perhaps this is why Hushpuppynsees these giant warthogs destroying her world. The powers that be don’t looknat who they are stepping on, they simply stampede through the world, devouring,ndestroying, consuming, sucking the world dry.

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nBut Hushpuppy doesn’t just go up against the tumultuous worldnor giant imaginary warthogs; Hushpuppy also has to deal with her unreliable parent.nWink as he is called, doesn’t do a very good job of taking care of his daughternwho roams alone through the world for most of the film. At one point Hushpuppynactually runs away from her father, an act I’ve always approved of if a childnhas obviously insane or unreliable parents. If a child has good loving parents,nthey should love, appreciate and listen to them, but if in the other hands a child’snparents are insane, in my book they have every right to run away and find theirnown happiness in this big bad world; especially if said parents abuse a child physicallynor mentally. This is an idea that was also recently presented to us in WesnAnderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (2012), a filmnabout two kids who turn their backs to the world they know in order to create anworld of their own, sharing books, falling in love and listening to good music.

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nAside from all these thematic elements, Beasts of thenSouthern Wild is simply put a beautiful film to look at. Yeah Hushpuppy doesnlive in the midst of extreme poverty and ‘ugly’ things, but there’s beauty tonbehold in the middle of the ugliness. The character of Hushpuppy is annextremely loveable one, she’s a delicate as a child can be, yet she is also  strong, she’s admirable just for that. Shensymbolizes our frustrations with the world we live in; Hushpuppy has nonproblems in screaming at these problems in fierce complaint. As Hushpuppy hernself says, the world has to know that she existed, that she passed through thisnworld. First time director Benh Zeitlin is also letting the world know who henis with this impressive first time effort; here’s looking forward to whatevernhe has planned for us next. Highly recommend this beautiful movie for those outnthere in the mood for something uplifting, symbolic and beautiful.

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nRating: 4 out of 5 

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