On Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those films that comes out of nowhere and is suddenly everywhere. The actors and filmmakers are relative unknowns, which allows the film to quietly approach cinemas, but also means that its success seems to be magnified, as if critics can’t quite believe these unknowns made a full feature length film.

BOTSW tells the story of a young girl and her father living in the bathtub, an area of an unnamed US state that has been flooded in a storm and then walled off by a levy. The leap to the real life events of hurricane Katrina are purposely and clearly made, despite the film taking on a more surreal direction, where some residents, despite being asked to leave, have decided to remain living in the bathtub.

The narrative is very loose and at times shaky. There are elements that feel contrived and those that feel repetitive. Yet, it is an ambitious film and for writer/director Behn Zeitlin it is a very impressive debut feature. Where Zeitlin’s skills lies are in the performances he extracts from his inexperienced cast, specifically Quvenzhané Wallis, who as the young girl forced to learn how to survive in the bathtub, carries the film. Wallis’ performance is beyond her years and acting experience and the immediate attached we feel to her makes BOTSW the emotional rollercoaster it is and makes it easy to forgive or forget some of the more obvious weaknesses.

Cinematographer Ben Richardson has done a fantastic job as the film has a beautiful grainy feel to it that uses light majestically. Richardson brings what is a hard landscape to film to life. BOTSW is not a flawless film and is probably not fully deserving of the unending praise thrown on it, but it is a brave film and should be celebrated.