I heard a lot about this movie on IMDb a few months ago and its recent Oscar nominations peaked my interest. So I decided to give it a go and, not only was it a disappointment, I was actually p*ssed off after watching it. In some ways, I'm flabbergasted that this film has received so much praise. But I can also see how it very much fits a formula of what certain critics and film buffs usually want to spew praise over. 'Into The Wild' being another great example of this. 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' (BotSW) is one of those movies that comes along now and then and manages to pull a great hoodwink on a lot of the movie going public. A hoodwink in that it seems from the majority of the reviews that the content of this movie and the messages that it leaves you with seem to have been largely ignored by most people. Those messages being that things such as child abuse, alcoholism and casual prostitution are fine as long as they're done against a backdrop of tweeness.
There is so much wrong with this movie, it's hard to know where to start, but I'll give it a go
1. The Acting: Apart from the girl who plays Hushpuppy, the acting in this film is pretty poor. I guess some of the actors aren't helped by the roles that they're playing: nearly all of the adults that we see for the majority of the film are either layabout drunkards or prostitutes.
2. The Dialogue: When it's not incoherent nonsense being babbled in a thick Cajun accent by some drunkard, it's some pseudo-intellectual, twee, sub-Forrest Gump twaddle being philosophised by a 6-year old. "When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces". Urgh
3. The Story: BotSW drags out for 90 mins, yet the story itself that's actually hidden within the movie would be told in a third of that time. Oh, yes, but that's right, it's not the destination that matters right? It's the journey? And what a tedious journey it is for all concerned.
4. The Cinematography: As other reviewers have pointed out, the hand-held camera work is taken to the extreme on BotSW, to the point that you're almost nauseous by the end of the movie.
5. The Moral Messages of the Film: This is by far the biggest problem that I have with this movie and why I'm somewhat shocked that it has received so much praise. There are many number of issues that I have with this.
The Parent / Child Dynamic: Hushpuppy's father is an unemployed, somewhat unhinged drunkard. He has apparently made no effort to provide a life for his child, as they live in a shack that looks like it has been assembled from foraged and discarded junk. He drinks almost constantly, he beats his daughter, screams at her regularly, he finds out he has a serious terminal illness and yet he makes no plans to provide a life for his daughter after he passes away. Yet, rarely does the director or the story suggest that Wink isn't a good father. His death isn't portrayed as Hushpuppy being freed from a man who may little to no attempt to father her when on earth. Rather it's more portrayed as poor old Wink being freed from the illness ravaging his body.
The Actions of the Protagonists: As other reviewers have pointed out, they make absolutely no sense. Rather than seek help from the mainland after the storm, the main characters decide to try and blow a hole in the levy with an improvised bomb. The suggestion being that rather than lower themselves to accepting aid from "the outside" they are willing to endanger lives of people directly on the other side of the levy and destroy it through their criminal actions. Wink consistently refuses any assistance for his apparent Leukaemia and makes no attempt to provide a life for Hushpuppy after he dies, short of leaving her in the care of a man with an even worse drinking problem than he has.
Them vs. Us: any help offered by kind people from the outside in the aftermath of the storm is consistently treated with utter distain by the main characters. Their rejection of outside assistance is never explored past the shallow suggestion that they are outsiders / not from the Bathtub / don't understand our way of life.
There is so much wrong with this movie, it's hard to know where to start, but I'll give it a go
1. The Acting: Apart from the girl who plays Hushpuppy, the acting in this film is pretty poor. I guess some of the actors aren't helped by the roles that they're playing: nearly all of the adults that we see for the majority of the film are either layabout drunkards or prostitutes.
2. The Dialogue: When it's not incoherent nonsense being babbled in a thick Cajun accent by some drunkard, it's some pseudo-intellectual, twee, sub-Forrest Gump twaddle being philosophised by a 6-year old. "When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces". Urgh
3. The Story: BotSW drags out for 90 mins, yet the story itself that's actually hidden within the movie would be told in a third of that time. Oh, yes, but that's right, it's not the destination that matters right? It's the journey? And what a tedious journey it is for all concerned.
4. The Cinematography: As other reviewers have pointed out, the hand-held camera work is taken to the extreme on BotSW, to the point that you're almost nauseous by the end of the movie.
5. The Moral Messages of the Film: This is by far the biggest problem that I have with this movie and why I'm somewhat shocked that it has received so much praise. There are many number of issues that I have with this.
The Parent / Child Dynamic: Hushpuppy's father is an unemployed, somewhat unhinged drunkard. He has apparently made no effort to provide a life for his child, as they live in a shack that looks like it has been assembled from foraged and discarded junk. He drinks almost constantly, he beats his daughter, screams at her regularly, he finds out he has a serious terminal illness and yet he makes no plans to provide a life for his daughter after he passes away. Yet, rarely does the director or the story suggest that Wink isn't a good father. His death isn't portrayed as Hushpuppy being freed from a man who may little to no attempt to father her when on earth. Rather it's more portrayed as poor old Wink being freed from the illness ravaging his body.
The Actions of the Protagonists: As other reviewers have pointed out, they make absolutely no sense. Rather than seek help from the mainland after the storm, the main characters decide to try and blow a hole in the levy with an improvised bomb. The suggestion being that rather than lower themselves to accepting aid from "the outside" they are willing to endanger lives of people directly on the other side of the levy and destroy it through their criminal actions. Wink consistently refuses any assistance for his apparent Leukaemia and makes no attempt to provide a life for Hushpuppy after he dies, short of leaving her in the care of a man with an even worse drinking problem than he has.
Them vs. Us: any help offered by kind people from the outside in the aftermath of the storm is consistently treated with utter distain by the main characters. Their rejection of outside assistance is never explored past the shallow suggestion that they are outsiders / not from the Bathtub / don't understand our way of life.