Six year old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) is growing up in a squalid area of the Louisiana Bayou known as the "Bathtub." She lives in an abandoned trailer a few yards away from her alcoholic and ailing father(Dwight Henry) who has his own dilapidated trailer. Her mother allegedly "left for the sea" when Hushpuppy was small, but Hushpuppy retains the memory of her mother by talking to her mother's old jersey.
An impending storm threatens to flood the "Bathtub," but the locals refuse to leave their home. At the same time, Hushpuppy hears a tale of maurauding mythical beasts called the Aroucks who might be released by the melting polar ice caps and devour everything in their way, including children.
This is a movie that can be viewed from so many angles. At first glance, it is a tale of a young girl's survival amidst heart-rending poverty. To most of us viewers, the living conditions of the people of the Bathtub are appalling...Hushpuppy wanders through the mud and filth in a shirt, underwear, and white galoshes with garbage, chickens, pigs, dogs, and sundry animals at her feet. However, you begin to realize it is the only world they know, and they are able to find joy and celebration in their life. Nightly fireworks, drinking, and buckets of local shellfish are a common celebration.
It is also a tale of a father and his daughter. Daddy comes off at first as abusive, but as the tale progresses you realize that he truly loves his daughter and is only trying to make her tough in order to deal with their surroundings. And although they battle, Hushpuppy stands by her father as well.
Then there is the fairy tale element. Hushpuppy talks to, and at one point tries to find the mother that is not there. The Arouchs might be imaginary beasts, but to the child's mind they are real and she realizes she will have to face them someday.
This movie is a labor of love for all involved, since it is the first major film for most of the crew. Behn Zeitlin is the director, co-writer, and also contributor to the Zydeco-flavored score. His is the most assured directorial debut I've seen in years. He is aided by Ben Richardson's cinematography which is at times harsh and brutal, and then magical and joyous.
The cast is so realistic it's scary, but then again, most are from around the area where it was filmed. Dwight Henry owned a bakery across the street from where the film crew had headquarters, and was asked to play the part of Daddy. He succeeds brilliantly. Rough, course, abusive, and sickly, yet at his core has a fatherly love for his daughter that is real and heartfelt.
And then there's Quvenzhasne Wallis. She was 5 years old at the audition (and had to lie that she was 6..the age minimum to audition.) She gives the most astonishing performance of the year. There is no artifice to her movements or reactions. Every emotion, from lashing out at her father, to being amazed at hearing the heart-beats of animals that she holds to her ear, to the unbridled joy at the nightly celebrations, emanate as if from her soul. And her matter-of-fact narration is spot on. At one point they are forced to go to a shelter, and as Hushpuppy wanders among the injured she states simply that "when somebody gets sick here, they plug them into the wall."
This is not a movie for everyone (my husband said he "didn't get it.") It is bleak and heart-breaking, but also a celebration of life in the midst of despair. One of the most unusual and astounding films of this year.
