“I’m not sure what we just saw,” Lisa said as we walked out of the theater. We had just seen “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” I agreed with her completely. I’m not certain what it is, but I can say without reservation that it is one of the more remarkable pieces of work that I’ve seen on film in a very long time–if not forever.
I’m going to do my best to not give any spoilers here, except that I have to admit it’s almost impossible to not give away things merely by talking about it.
This is a piece of work that is harsh, rugged, painful to watch, but at the same time it’s glorious. It is deeply seated in what it means to be human, what it means to have a home and to be so focused on a place that you become a part of it. It is about love when you don’t know how to love. It’s about doing what is right. It’s about self preservation and liberty. It’s about dreams.
This work could have crossed the line about a thousand times, but it stayed savagely within the box its writers defined for it. I think that’s the thing I walk away with the most. Its writing is gorgeous. Watching it, listening to it, taking in it as a story … it all just makes me want to write.
Ebert calls it one of the year’s best. I clearly agree with him.