It’s deserving of all the hype and awards it has won…

I’ll admit when first hearing about this movie, I really didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was going to be a movie about nature in southern Africa but then I saw the trailer and I was intrigued. It’s directed and co-written by Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar adapted from Alibar’s one-act play Juicy and Delicious. At the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, it won the Caméra d’Or award as well as winning the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

The makers of the film did an open audition in search of authentic actors. In doing so, they found first timers Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. Little Quvenzhané Wallis was the absolute spot on pick for the character of “Hush Puppy”. She has so much life and energy in her and I could really see the world from her point of view. Also, Dwight Henry has this ferocity and natural fire in his acting that it doesn’t ever seem like it’s not real.

In Louisiana, there is a place the locals call “The Bathtub” where a small community of people live and has just about enough to survive. As the stormy season is approaching the gulf, they have a tradition to party together as if they accept whatever’s coming. Hushpuppy (Wallis) is the one telling the story and her father is Wink (Henry) who takes care of her. They don’t live together in the same house but in 2 separate homes very close to each other. Hushpuppy has a lot of pets consisting of chickens, a pig and a dog that are her friends. She does also go to school with the rest of the kids in the bathtub and are taught facts mixed in with life lessons. It’s there that we first learn about the “Aurochs”, the extinct pig like prehistoric animals that have an integral part of the story as well as the melting of the polar ice caps. As the storm nears, you begin to see the dynamic of the “father-daughter” relationship. The two take shelter together to ride it out.

The Bathtub is a very real place in Louisiana called the Ise de Jean Charles on the “wrong” side of the levee, the city was built for hurricane protection. In the film, they are depicted as the forgotten people in Louisiana and Zeitlin went as far as to have the sets built in the area. The impressive part about this whole production is that some of the crew even lived there for the duration of the shoot. This made me immerse in the world that has been created. One thing that is a little confusing is it isn’t very clear what is real or possibly seeing the imagination of a child.

The 1080p transfer looks good but there are seem issues that stand out but I’ll get to that in a moment. As with most Indy films, there is light grain but its existence is purely intentional. Honestly, I think it would lose how gritty life in the bathtub is if it were super shiny and processed. Also, the coloring looks very nice. With all of the foliage and the scenes with fireworks, everything looks vibrant with life. However, there are some big contrasting issues during the darker shots in the film. During the storm, there is black crushing and the contrast was flickering a lot. To be fair, this sometimes happens but the details get lost in shots like that.

The audio track is has a very solid sound from the DTS-HD MA. With the location of the film being in a rural area, the ambient sound of the wildlife from the woods uses all 5.1 channels well. One definite plus is the dialogue between people is never too hard to hear. Where the soundtrack really shines is during the storm. It is very loud and clear but not overdriven. Overall, I’m very impressed with the whole soundtrack.

The release has a lot of good extras on the disc. They really gave me a good idea as to how the film was conceived and more insight in to the film.

Disc Details
Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy

Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles
English
Spanish

Supplements
Making of featurette- this featurette shows the entire production from conception to the end of filming.
Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Benh Zeitlin
Auditions- these are the original audition tapes for the cast.
Music- this is what music was chosen for the film
Glory at Sea- This is Zeitlin’s original short film which led him to do the movie. It has some of the same feeling as the final film.
The Aurochs- this is look at how they brought these prehistoric animals to film. It just goes to show how movie magic is accomplished.
Theatrical trailer
Sneak Peeks

I think this movie is amazing. I’ll admit, it wasn’t clear on the direction it was going at first but it completely comes together in the end. The acting was wonderful and the story was heartfelt and it was complimented with great sound and a decent video transfer. It’s deserving of all the hype and awards it has won. I highly recommend leaving your reservations at the door and give the movie a chance; you won’t regret it.

Beasts of the Southern Wild [Blu-ray]
	Price : $24.99