Review of Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) by Christian H — 05 Mar 2013

It was one of the strangest films I've ever seen, and one of the best. It had so much ambition, but unlike most films with high ambitions, this film actually succeeded. I thought of so many films that had tried to do what this film did after watching it, and this was one of very few that I can say actually did what it set out to do. That ambition was to tell a philosophical story of Life. The "Beasts" of the title aren't the Aurochs, these giant stampeding monsters that making their way toward the Bathtub, a little community cut off from the rest of the world that lies just outside of what I think is implied to be New Orleans. The Beasts are the residents, the characters, the protagonist. Now, the term "beast" paints a picture in your mind of psychotic, murderous, uncivil savages, but just wipe that picture away because that's not the kind of beast on display here. This kind of beast is more real. They aren't savages, but animals with a natural habitat, and they know that they belong to this natural habitat. They stick together like a pack.

Now, as far as story goes, I'm not going to give you too many details, because it's the kind of film where to give a brief synopsis is to read you the screenplay. But it is brilliant. It's the kind of brilliance where you're not quite sure what you're experiencing, but you'll like it. And the directing is among the best of the year. Each shot, each frame of the film is a pure masterpiece. This is the director's debut, and already he has become the kind of director potential filmmakers should look up to and idolize.

I give it five well deserved stars out of five.