Must See Film: Beasts of the Southern Wild

"I see that I'm a little piece of a big, big universe." -Hushpuppy

Last week I saw a great film called Beasts of the Southern Wild.  I knew nothing about this film, but a few people who had recently seen it, highly recommended it to me.  I had high expectations due to all the positive movie reviews I read online and was very delighted with this film.

On the surface, it's a nice story about a cute, brave little girl--named Hushpuppy!--and what she and her single father, ( an alcoholic), have to do to survive a giant storm on a tiny island called, "The Bathtub."  But, in reality, this movie is about global warming--even though the only clue we are given about this are scenes throughout the film of the polar ice caps melting.

A lot has been made about the six-year-old girl, Quvenzhané Wallis, who plays Hushpuppy in the film.  Indeed, it is great acting for such a young girl.  But more than her acting, I was really in love with the ideas of her character.  Throughout the film, you see that she has much respect for all animals and all of nature.  "The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right.  If one beast busts--even the smallest beast--the entire universe will get busted," she says.  She is young and optimistic, and really believes that the whole universe is connected.  Just for that, this film is worth seeing!