“Beasts of the Southern Wild” (2012) is the boisterous and surrealistic tale of six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) and her hotheaded father Wink (Dwight Henry), residents of “The Bathtub”—an isolated bayou community in southern Louisiana.
As a fierce tropical storm approaches and their livelihoods come under dire threat, Hushpuppy and Wink choose to embrace blind optimism—even as the Earth’s melting ice caps bring the threat of invasion by vicious prehistoric aurochs. With the onslaught of tropical winds and heavy rains soon laying siege upon The Bathtub, the father-and-daughter duo must scramble to survive and bring restoration to their precarious community.
Co-written and directed by Benh Zeitlin in his feature film debut, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is a magical, profound and entirely one-of-a-kind conception. Zeitlin brings an intrepid spirit to his boldly original narrative—a dreamlike fusion of imagination, mysticism and exhilaration. It’s a wonderfully novel, unlike-anything-you’ve-ever seen triumph of filmmaking.
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