Beasts of the Southern Wild

Whether due to poverty, personal choice, or simply knowing no other way, there are people living by the river, forgoing the comforts and the cages of modern urban living. Not many films depict these communities, but seven years after Hurricane Katrina, Beasts of the Southern Wild shares a rare depiction of their lives in the outskirts. It’s a bit meandering, but it’s unique, with a folkloric feel, as the young heroine Hushpuppy full of awe towards the natural world their Cajun community is bound to, while also with a curiosity towards her missing mother and an awareness of how precarious their lives are that slowly grows through the film. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a surprising debut of a community rarely depicted.

Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink, in 'the Bathtub', a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink’s tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe—for a time when he’s no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack—temperatures rise and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.