Beasts of the southern wild

Hailed for it's heartfelt prowess and inspiring performances, beasts of the southern wild has already won various amounts of awards, most prominently from the Cannes film festival. Dealing with a relevant yet seemingly bizarre concept revolving largely around the change in climate and the resulting emerging events, Beasts of the southern wild does a fantastic job in gripping the audience whilst seducing you into the beautiful world of 'the bathtub'.

 Stricken with a desperately ill father, and the constant fear of possible flooding, Beasts of the southern wild follows Hushpuppy, a tenacious child who must learn the values of life as the world around her falls apart.

At the unbelievable age of six, the narrative is very much driven by the fantastic performance of Quvenzhane Wallis with her subsequent supporting cast of equal passion following closely behind. Every character looks up to Hushpuppy as a figure of power and control as she steals every scene with her charming presence. Although their are minor aspects that don't quite piece together, the majority of the narrative is delivered with meaning and heart. This is largely due to the fact that the subject matter is all to relevant to current audiences, nearing the future this dark fantasy could soon become partial reality. The beasts themselves worked to an extent, more as a strong metaphor rather than a literal threat, the few scenes containing them felt irrelevant and oddly forced, detracting you from the preferred story at hand. Fortunately these beasts are not as relevant to the story as initially imagined, until the climax at least ,instead they serve as a further threat impacting on the the lives of the community.

 Throughout the opening minutes of the film an immediate connection is felt to Hushpuppy, and our relationship only improves during the remaining course of the picture. Whilst she emotionally adapts to the dangers of the world around her, our attachment grows ever stronger to the extent that we feel like the mother of the ever hopeful child. This feeling of attachment is heavily aided by the emotionally invigorating score, which delivers variations of a similar track throughout, until the final climactic song of pure beauty and awe is unleashed with the complete orchestral expression.

 Full of pure love and heartfelt emotion, Beasts of the southern wild is a truly fantastic film which perfectly encapsulates the innocence of youth as well as the and the unity of community. Delivering relevant messages  of threat through the angelic viewpoint of the young, this is a deeply meaningful film that can't be missed.

85%- Delivers heartfelt emotional power, through the eyes  of the innocent. This will surely mean wonders for the 6 year old star.

Calum Russell