Beasts of the Southern Wild

So for as long as I can remember Hollywood has tried to capture the weirdness, contentedness, pride, and hospitality that the people of Louisiana and it's culture has to offer. But it has always failed miserably at it and you end up with movies like The Big Easy, Deja Vu, or their latest effort in the form of the TV show True Blood! The accents are always awful and you just get actors acting like goofy versions of themselves. Why not just have the settings of these movies in space and save the time and effort? Friday the 13h sent Jason to space, Leprechaun went to space AND the hood,; why not vampires or a coked up Nic Cage from Port of Call New Orleans? Sometimes they get close like with the assistant coach in The Waterboy but for the most part my in laws or friends from there just leave shaking their heads in disgust. Kind of how I felt about the movie Soul Man with C Thomas Howell. But Beasts of the Southern Wild I think pretty much nails it! I dont want to stereotype everyone from Louisiana by saying that the people from "The Bathtub" are exactly what you should expect when heading to that state but every character has some element of these strange and wonderful people. And yes I am aware of the fact that I am talking about them like they are zoo animals but thats not my intent.

This particular story is about Hushpuppy and her relationship with her father Wink. Hushpuppy is played wonderfully by Quvenzhane Wallis who is a 6 year old newcomer to the screen. Her afro and powerful facial expressions instantly make you fall in love with her.And the entire time you feel like she's a real person going through some pretty trying stuff for a child that age versus that of a young Dakota Fanning or the weird kid from Ultraviolet who was in everything for about a year. They were great but you could never really lose yourself in the story because you could tell they were just kids acting. It's like watching Tom Cruise trying to act like a normal person; the entire time you know it's really just Cruise smiling crazily at the camera.

Anyway, Hushpuppy and her father live in this seemingly forgotten town of The Bathtub which is separated from the rest of civilization by a large levee. But the townspeople  wouldnt have it any other way. Everyone in the town gets along and they have holidays and celebrations for seemingly any reason they can think of. But when a terrible storm threatens to destroy the community most of the town flees with the exception of a few die hards which include Hushpuppy and Wink. Through it all Wink, in his own weird and uncomfortable way, tries to prepare his daughter to survive in the world by making her tough and self reliant because apparently he seems to be dying of some undisclosed condition. Almost every scene with them is intense but you can tell that they love each as much as humanly possible and this helps you overlook Wink's heavy drinking and unorthodox parenting style. But the flooding from the storm has destroyed the town and is killing  the environment therefore severing this special connection Hushpuppy has with nature. She uses her imagination to escape from these heavy situations by communicating with her natural surroundings and with her mother(who left years back) in the form of an old jersey.Meanwhile as her father gets sicker and things get worse for the community she imagines these giant prehistoric beasts bearing down on them; and they seem to get more and more real each day.

I am a grown man, so crying in the theater is something I just dont do but there are a few moments that had me close. I dont want to give anything away but basically every scene in the last 20 minutes of the movie is pretty moving and if you're not affected by what's happening then you just dont have a pulse. This is excellent film making on a low budget and unlike the movie Precious you dont leave feeling like you've been punched in the gut 30 times. When I initially left the theater I thought this movie was just fresh but after looking back I will rate it as very TIGHT! Beasts and Moonrise Kingdom deserve every award that they will get this year. Definitely check it out.