Beasts of the Southern Wild

With the announcement of the Academy Award nominees this past Friday, I started my annual tradition of trying to cram in as many of them as I possibly can until the awards show on February 24th. So when I saw the relatively unknown Beasts of the Southern Wild was one of the candidates, I did some research.

Dozens and dozens of award nominations and accolades? Check. Topical plotline about the plight of southern Louisiana bayou communities? Check. The youngest nominee ever to be nominated for Best Actress? Check.

Naturally, I had to watch it. I'm pretty glad I did.

If you've never heard of Beasts of the Southern Wild, I don't really blame you. This is the first feature film by most of the people involved and, despite making a huge splash in several acclaimed film festivals, saw only a limited release in theaters. It wasn't until after I had seen its several nominations (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Picture) that I was even aware of its existence. But one quick trip to Redbox had me glued to my television watching an intriguing, if not overly artsy, portrayal of a unique father-daughter relationship in one of the most exotic locations in the country.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is about Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), a 5 year-old girl who lives in the fictional Louisiana community called "The Bathtub" with her father, Trip (Dwight Henry). The Bathtub is an isolated bayou community, cut off from the rest of the country by a levee, and the film follows the trials and tribulations of Hushpuppy and the members of her community after a storm devastates their home. Although it sounds like a run-of-the-mill natural disaster flick, the film breaks the mold in a couple of neat ways. The first is that the film's  focus isn't really on the storm itself. The core of the story is Hushpuppy and her unique relationship with people and nature. What the audience sees as a result of that is a mixture of child-like naivety and timeless wisdom that rightfully earned Wallis a nomination for Best Actress.

The film isn't without its flaws. Early in the story, Hushpuppy's teacher tells her class about Aurochs, ancient beasts that lived during the time of cavemen. The story apparently sticks with Hushpuppy, because it is used as a heavyhanded metaphor for the entirety of the film. Although the film isn't terribly long, I felt that my time was being wasted every time it cut away to the Aurochs. I get the metaphor of savage beasts bearing down her neck as calamity ensues, but all it did was make my eyes roll.

I honestly think this film will walk away on Oscar night empty-handed. The only shot that it has is if Wallis win Best Actress, something I'm actually rooting for. It's an interesting film and mostly well-done, but it's just entirely too forgettable. It's not the weakest contender for the Oscar race, but its indie roots might not hold. I give it 7 crazy bayou dwellers shooting shotguns at hurricanes out of 10.