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Monday, 6 October 2014

Beasts of the Southern Wild: Shamefully Unacclaimed

Although met with massive critical acclaim, Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) has seen little publicity or exposure beyond the nomination for best lead actress (Quvenzhané Wallis) in the Academy awards (nine years old at the time of nomination, she is the youngest nominee in the history of the Academy awards). This seems a terrible shame to me, as the film is, in my experience, one of the most nuanced and complex depictions of childhood to ever grace cinema screens.
Benh Zeitlin takes the helm of the creative direction, for which he too was nominated for an academy award (Best director), and paints a vivid image of a close-knit, remote community with the use of handheld camera work and tightly framed shots that assist in quickly establish connections with characters and locations. Add on a rich and varied colour palette and excellent acting across the board and you get a sense of the reason this is one of my all-time favourite films.


From the establishing shots with Hushpuppy (Wallis) listening to animals heartbeats, to the tense scenes with her father (Dwight Henry) who is varyingly angry and caring and almost always unreadable, I find I care immensely about the characters in the film. The film feels somewhat unique in that there is no antagonist beyond the mysterious mainland who have forgotten them, death itself and the possibly imagined Aurochs thawed from an unnamed arctic environment. This encapsulates a child-like sense of going up against the world and the mysteries represented by it, which fits very well thematically with the narrative the film follows.

Ultimately the film evokes a sense of both childhood and community, with a skill and delicacy, not flinching away from the harsh or the painful, presenting childhood in all of its aspects. Standing as perhaps the single most moving and uplifting films I have seen, this one comes highly recommended.



Tim


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