WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

With unsurpassed cinematography of both mythical and existent worlds’ amalgamation, Beasts of the Southern Wild is luminously co-written and directed by Benh Zeitlin. In 92 minutes, the film portrays the Bathtub community, their struggling aligned with poverty and wild nature, and most importantly, a single father, Wink and his six-year-old daughter, Hushpuppy. She is fearless and unbreakable, and believes that one day the world will remember her, like “once there was a Hushpuppy, who lived with her dad.”

Growing up in the Bathtub community, a southern bayou community in an island surrounded by rising water, Hushpuppy has adapted to becoming stronger. She is trained by her self-made father how to deal with both, the danger of the wild nature and the life of unfulfilled basic needs (food and shelter). Without asking her father for feeding during the flood, she understands the situation and eats leaves, which remarkably shows a child’s learning determination. She learns that the universe is a unity. If one piece of this unity falls down, it will effect on everything else. Searching for her mother and having imaginary conversations with her mother shows another side of Hushpuppy, a child who requires love and affection. However, Hushpuppy was not allowed to show her emotion until the moment of her father’s last breaths. She blasts with tears, but she does not breakdown. Because she knows the world needs her to be defiant and daring to survive. 

Zeitlin’s passionate direction and paying attention to each detail on a scene ornament the film with more glitter. He not only shows the wild side of nature and its effect on human beings but also gives an important message to society through Hushpuppy’s character, such as; we should not forget our root and be intrepid.

Beasts of the Southern wild can compare with the 1990’s movie A Cry in the Wild, based on the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. This movie is also about a 13-year-old boy named Brian, who is the only survivor after a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness; he has no choice except to adapt to the wild life. Similar to Hushpuppy, Brian also has to learn about finding food and shelter.

The actors of Beasts of the Southern wild are all non-professional local people of New Orleans who never act in front of the camera. Five-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis as Hushpuppy elevated the film with her breathtaking acting into an affluent layer of perfections.

Every bit of Beasts of the Southern wild is astounding that already obtaining high interests of viewers and reaching positive responses, and will be exemplifies as one of the best and remarkable movies of the year’s.