Beasts of the Southern Wild

July 19, 2012

81564406

No other 2012 film can boast the raw originality of “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Benh Zeitlin’s marvelously textured and beautifully realized bayou fantasy, which sees the world through the kaleidoscopic lens of a child at a crossroads. Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) is a 6-year-old girl raised like a boy by her ailing father (Dwight Henry), whose illness coincides with a Katrina-like storm and a calamitous ecological allegory, which thunders forth in the form of prehistoric monsters. Along with documentary-style details that offer access to a shrouded microcosm, Zeitlin weaves these pieces together with near-masterful cohesion, emerging with something that feels gloriously homespun from end to end.

Written by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar, whose play “Juicy and Delicious” served as the inspiration, “Beasts” is driven by earthly philosophies and metaphors, particularly in regard to who the beasts are and how they fit into the grand scheme. Hushpuppy and her co-inhabitants of The Bathtub, the southern-Delta dreamland she calls home, are shown to possess the same animalism as the net-captured critters they consume, yet even more savage are those invading creatures and the “civilized” aid workers who venture past the levees, draining The Bathtub of its residents.

Remarkably polished in all its un-polished-ness, this movie assumes a lofty perch on virtually every filmic level. It presents a realm that feels otherwise uncharted, it hinges on a poignant bond portrayed by spot-on actors, it achieves aural and visual styles that seem magically unique (even splatters of grease look like glistening fairy dust), and it manages to truly be about something — a worldly thematic distinction that gives it long-term legs to stand on.

Through it all, “Beasts” is enchantingly intimate, blessed with Hushpuppy’s guileless and half-articulate narration, and hoisted by the undercurrent of family as a necessary support. Just like the makeshift raft of debris and car parts that carries her through the flood, Hushpuppy’s upbringing is ramshackle at best, made of tough love and damaged goods. In a quest that also sends her searching for her mother, the wee heroine confides that her favorite feeling is to be lifted. It’s a feeling “Beasts” generously provides.