Beasts of the Southern Wild
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Year Released: 2012
Rating: 1.5
Delusional fantasy by a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) about her life in "The Bathtub" (a dirty, dirt-poor waste land) with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), and other flood victims: since it was shot in Louisiana, it's plainly obvious it's intended as some kind of statement about life in New Orleans post-Katrina. Trouble is, like most fantasies by kids, it has gaps in logic and continuity, and as an adult viewing and critiquing a child's view of the world, can be objected to on countless levels: it can be viewed as poverty chic (the characters refuse modern medicine and social programs), as a slap at the victims of Katrina who chose to not evacuate, as a misguided feminist statement: Wink's alcoholic, abusive Papa teaches his little girl it's not "good enough" to be a "female," and she has to be "a man." The elements of magical realism - the mythical, violent giant pigs, the Elysium Fields brothel - don't enrich so much as come across as Symbolism Run Amok.
