Beasts of the Southern Wild

A film festival favorite from Sundance to Cannes, writer-director Benh Zeitlin's enchanting story set in post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana swampland revolves around an unruly, precocious 6-year-old African-American girl called Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), who lives in a ramshackle hut connected by a long rope to the treehouse shack inhabited by her ailing, alcoholic father (Dwight Henry). (Apparently, her mother “swam away” years earlier.) Acutely aware of the concrete levee that separates dry land from the Bathtub—their tidal basin—Hushpuppy imagines a coming flood like an Arctic avalanche that releases fantastic, prehistoric, boar-like creatures called aurochs. When the ferocious storm does hit, and she and her father wind up on a makeshift boat, Hushpuppy remains a relentlessly optimistic survivalist, firmly believing that balance is the natural order of the universe. Hushpuppy's poetic voiceover, combined with the film's magical realism, beautifully conveys her continuing sense of wonder about the brutal, primordial wilderness in which she lives. An evocative, contemporary allegorical folk tale that touches on subjects ranging from the innocence of childhood to the threat of global warming, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (23 min.) and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is director Benh Zeitlin's 2008 short “Glory at Sea” (26 min.), cast auditions (15 min.), deleted scenes (14 min.), production featurettes on the score (3 min.) and “The Aurochs” creature (3 min.), and bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for one of 2012's best indie films.] (S. Granger)