Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Good movie? Sure. Interesting movie? Definitely. Best Picture? I'm not sure about that. Beasts of the Southern Wild features some spectacular acting from 6-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis and 50-year-old Dwight Henry (which is amazing considering neither one had acted before), but the movie tries to be too deep at times and it loses its raw, realistic power. This is impressive work from a first time director.

Perhaps the most important thing about this film is what it can teach young filmmakers about vision and budget.Sometimes you really CAN make a film with non-union talent and really score a KNOCKOUT! Does a filmmaker need to spend millions on pricey talent? NO!Does a film need recognizable actors to have a cinematic impact? NO! Can non-union talent OUT PERFORM union actors? YES! Beasts of the Southern Wild was one of the finest movies of 2012.You simply couldn't improve this film.It is absolute perfection!I wish all movies were this engaging and enjoyable.Lesson learned.

I will begin by saying that I went into this film with an open mind. I was expecting a good movie, some people had told me it was great and some had said just OK. I also have watched this a total of three times just in case I wasn't picking up on something. So, when I say with absolute certainty that this movie is absolute filth I say this from an unbiased position. Some small independent films do a good jib of portraying the raw emotion of the struggle of people through their use of new and unprofessional actors. Let me be clear, this is not one. Each actor does his or her own work bringing the entire film down by offering unnatural lines delivered dryly. All in all, they are extremely unconvincing in their parts. And, if we talk about this using "The Method" then these actors should be really good because this is their life, but it is far from the case. This film whirls you into a dizzying array of shots and weird angles shown from the perspective of a small child. But, this film does just that, it makes the viewer dizzy by using solely hand-held techniques that offer nothing other than nausea. Also, being told from the view of a young child could be an effective story telling technique if done well. Sadly, this film just comes across as unintelligent and portrays the world in a way that disregards all other factors. It fails to even recognize that it is told as if from a young girl, which just seems lazily done and confusing. Adding to this overall negative effect is the weird buffalo things. This film disregards all science and focuses on scare tactics to push its left wing propaganda concerning climate a change on viewers by showing a terrified, cute little girl who is helpless in the shadow of these beasts. They also characterize the people in "The Shower" as beasts. This is because they are self centered and narcissistic and believe that they are impervious to everything. This belief that they are better than their "evil system" is exactly what makes this movie so bad. As an expert film critic, I do not recommend the waste of time that is this movie.

This movie makes a hero of a 6 year-old girl who blows up a levee and destroys thousands of homes and the lives of the people living in the area she floods with her act. Audiences approve of her actions and applaud her because she's poor and by blowing up the levee she allows the water which has inundated the area in which she, her friends and family live to recede. The ends justify the means, right? If my home is destroyed by a natural disaster, I am perfectly justified in destroying your home because, hey, why should you have a home if mine has been destroyed? Misery loves company. Or in this case, an Oscar nomination. If we ever needed proof that "Hollywood" is made up of socialists, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" has, by the acclaim heaped upon it in the form of several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, is damning evidence. Its interesting that the people who make up the film industry's upper echelon, the glitterati we will see dressed in couture and jewels on Oscar night, live, literally, "High on the Hill." They live in the most expensive houses, in the most exclusive neighborhoods, while heaping praise on a movie that celebrates the destruction of "them" by the poor people they praise with their awards.One man's social activist is another man's terrorist. Oliver Stone tried to show us the effect a movie maker can have on an audience in "Natural Born Killers." At the climax of the sequence where Mickey kills his way to his psycho girlfriend, when he throws open her cell door, I remember many people in the theater began applauding. When they realized what they were cheering, they choked it off and shrank down in there seats. Unfortunately audiences weren't so self-aware for the actions of the 6 year-old id (not a typo, think about it) who poses as a hero in "Beasts of the Southern Wild."