This is a sad but brutal reminder that there is a world out there that we don't know or understand.
Set in a remote southern bayou community in the United States, life is basic and people live on the edge of humanity.
Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) is a 6-year-old girl living the most basic of lives with her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), providing the only care she gets.
But Hushpuppy learned how to look after herself after her mum walked out on her and she relies of a fierce resourcefulness and a vivid imagination to get her through her days.
From her isolated community she sees life delicately existing and their survival depends on everything staying in kilter.
A huge hurricane means disaster for their community and global warming means the threat of total destruction is ever present.
When her father is struck by a terminal illness, Hushpuppy must find the resilience to make her own way through life.
She must find a path to the outside world and somehow understand how the real world operates.
Quvenzhane Wallis is an absolute delight in her role as Hushpuppy. Her performance won friends around the world as the movie won awards at Cannes and Sundance and was nominated for four Oscars.
Hushpuppy's world is a bleak and somewhat desperate world but it is one that makes you open your eyes wide.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
(M) Roadshow Entertainment
Rating: 3 / 5
