Brave Men Don't Run From the Bathtub

Beast of the Southern Wild. Dir. Benh Zeitlin

Feat. Quvenzhane Wallis (Hushpuppy), and Dwight Henry (Wink)

20th Century Fox, 2012.

Benh Zeitlin’s 2012 film Beast of the Southern Wild was the kickoff to very young Quvenzhane Wallis’s acting career. Wallis plays the character “Hushpuppy” in the film, and she is a very curious, independent, and strong female protagonist. She was an only child who grew up in bayou community on the outskirts of New Orleans. They referred to her community as “the bathtub”; a community cut off from the rest of society by a levee. It is mentioned early on that her and her father are leaving without a female figure in the family (the mother is presumed dead. Hushpuppy tries to take her mother’s place, and keep her alcoholic father in check; and she did.

The community that she grew in had a very strong bond; there was not many of them, but they were all very close. After a storm rattled their community, flooding it with several feet of water something had to be done… Wink suggested that someone breach the levee, but Miss Bathsheba (Hushpuppy’s teacher, and fellow community member) believed that was a bad idea. Her philosophy was that when that if the levee was breached, the authorities would notice that there were people living “off the grid”, and come and evict them. Hushpuppy went ahead listening to her father’s idea, blew the levee up, and drained out the water from the bathtub.

As I said before, Hushpuppy was very close with her father; she was also somewhat inspired by his actions. What I mean by this is, her father suffered from alcoholism, and that led him to lash out, and be belligerent from time to time. When he was belligerent, so was Hushpuppy. For example, when they were in their “house” one night, he was drinking and he became belligerent, Hushpuppy then started to act up. Before you could even tell what was going on, they were throwing stuffed animals at each other, and kegs on the floor. Overall, Hushpuppy was very much affected by her father’s alcoholism.

After the authorities found the “off the grid community”, and forced those living there to evacuate they took them to a very big shelter– where there were many other people, a lot of food, and doctors giving people check-ups. Wink had a check-up, and got some very bad news back. A doctor told him that he was basically dying… As time went on, Wink remained in the hospital barely being able to take his own medicines without help from another. In the meantime, Hushpuppy stayed in the hospital care center, and you could tell she hated it. One day there was a huge rebellion, and the “off the grid people” forced themselves passed the doctors, and broke out of the hospital/shelter. Wink forced Hushpuppy onto a bus, because he did not want her to see him die, but Hushpuppy refused, because she wanted to be with her dad for the rest of his time being. This was very sentimental.

Overall, I think this movie was very sentimental. I enjoyed it to say the least. Hushpuppy was portrayed as a fantastic female protagonist; one who was strong, brave, and independent. Her and her community friends eventually stowed away on a boat, but returned to their community a few weeks later. Hushpuppy knew she had one home: the bathtub. This is why I titled this blog: “Brave men don’t run from the bathtub.”

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Release date: June 27, 2012 (USA)

Director: Benh Zeitlin

Budget: 1.8 million USD

Awards: Caméra d'Or, MORE

Screenplay: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar

Beasts of the Southern Wild is set in Louisiana, in the Bayou. Young Quvenzhané Wallis plays Hushpuppy, a six year old girl living with her dad in the Bath Tub. The people that live in the Bath Tub are trying to restore their small village after Hurricane Katrina. Hushpuppy's dad is dying and won't tell anyone. Her mom ran away years ago. Hushpuppy lives in her own trailer, and her dad in another, until one day, she accidentally burns hers down. Reluctantly, Hushpuppy's dad allows Hushpuppy to live with him. He often comes off as mean and almost abusive, but then surprises the viewer with random acts of kindness. After Hurricane Katrina, he goes with a few other men from the village and blows up the damn. This allows the freshwater to wash back through the Bath Tub and get rid of the salt water from the storm. All the people in the Bath Tub are rounded up one day and forced to go live in a large shelter. However, after realizing that Hushpuppy's dad is dying, the village gets together and escapes back to the Bath Tub. Hushpuppy's dad dies in the Bath Tub, and she sends him off as he always wished: ablaze in their boat out on the water. 

Fences: Damyia Jackson

Fences was a great film/play the author is a very good writer and a good storyteller. I would rate this movie a 5 because it started off as a play and is now a famous play/book/movie that I am very interested in. This movie was a big lesson about family and why it’s important to love them and not take them for granted because they could be all you have. I thought that the movie would be about something else because of the name of it but the author had a good way of using the fence as a metaphor. They did talk about the fence that he was supposed to be making around the house but I think that when Troy’s friend Bono said “the fence can be made to keep people out but it can also be to keep people in” I realized the meaning of the title. Basically to me what he said means that Rose wanted to keep her family together and not let them drift apart. In the end they all came together but it was sad because they lost the father who is supposed to be the “glue” of the family but they knew that he was in a better place. The turn of events were well put together, I like the way everything flowed in the movie and how there were many different lessons other than the one I mentioned above and I would watch/read more things from this author.

Winter's Bone

                                             Granik, Debra, director. Winter's Bone. 2010.

Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is seventeen and in charge of her household. Mom is sick, the kids look to her for care, and Dad the drug dealer has runoff after posting bail. When Ree finds out her Dad put the house up as security on the bond, she has to make sure she gets him to his court date or they’ll lose the house. But as she embarks on her search she finds that her little Ozark Mountains community hides a lot of secrets and tells a lot of lies, and some of them might get her killed.Ree finds refuge in the support from her father’s intense brother, Teardrop (John Hawkes). The two grow an unlikely relationship, one that leads to Teardrop’s eventual, yet extremely subtle Change of character. In fact, this change is so naturally presented, so artfully accomplished, that it might even go unnoticed. Still, it is there and provides the film with much of its meaning. Teardrop tells Ree that it’s Jessup’s choice whether or not to show up, and advises her to stop her search. When Ree presses him further, he grabs her by the hair and shakes her, then retreats to his room. Victoria follows, and emerges with fifty dollars. She gives it to Ree, and warns her once again to stay close to home.

Alien By Zanaya Yancey-Gordon

The Nostromo lands on the planetoid but is damaged during the process. Crew members Dallas, Lambert, and Kane go out to investigate the signal while the rest of the crew stays behind to make repairs and serve as support. While exploring , a three-member team of the crew discover a derelict spaceship and a huge chamber inside her containing thousands of eggs. When a curious team member goes near the egg, the parasite inside the egg attacks him, making him unconscious. As, they carried Kane's unconscious body back to the ship there was an argument about whether Kane should be brought on the ship because he needed to be contaminated. The parasite dies and the teams turns to the ship thinking their friend is okay but, is not. Soon Kane awakens and they began happily joking around and eating before going back into hyper sleep to go to earth. Suddenly Kane began to choke thinking it was food he choked on, his chest burst wide open and a spider like thing crawled out. By the end of the movie, there was only two survivors left to return back to Earth which would take them about 10 months.

Beasts of the southern wild

This was a really good movie and I would definitely watch it again because I was very interested in this movie. To me this movie told a story about family and why you should never leave them behind and it was also about being brave like he little girl “hushpuppy”. That’s what her father called her, he just wanted the best for his child and was determined to give her that. On the other hand, Hushpuppy was determined to stay with her father forever but he knew that he was sick and dying so that wouldn’t be possible. They lived in a little village that was very beat up and raggety and unlivable but didn’t want to go anywhere else. This movie taught me a lesson to never forget, Never take things for granted in life because there are people that have nothing and still live their best life. This little girl kept her faith in her father throughout the whole movie because she knew that the next day would be better than the last. This movie was full of different elements, feelings,and lessons, I would have to give this movie a 5 for everything. I would watch more movies written by this person even if they aren’t the same genre because I just like they have more lessons in what the show and they are passionate about what they do.

Beasts of the Southern Wild- Stephen Collins

Beasts of the Southern Wild is 2012 drama film directed by Benh Zeitlin about a six year old girl, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) and her dying father, Wink (Dwight Henry), who live in the rural area know as the Bathtub.

This is a really good film and Wallis is the youngest person to be nominated for an Oscar by the Academy at 9 years at the time. That's a great feat, but I probably seen 12 films from that year, so I can say if yes or no, if see deserve that nomination [Are you suggesting that you have not seen enough films from the year it came out to weigh in?  Did you see any of the other nominated performances?]. I can say that this is her film and she does do a incredible performance at such a year age.

I do like Dwight Henry's performances as Wink. It really sad to see him with this disease he has, but the actor pulls it extremely well. I admired the father-daughter relationship in the film, and it plays off really well. I liked that Hushpuppy does not know what is up with her father, and her father is basically going insane. I think it pull off well and felt like a broken relationship.

My only problem, but it is more of a nitpick is what the Beasts are a metaphor for? Are they a metaphor for ghosts of the pasts, or are they metaphor for inner demons? It does really confuse me. [ I think this is really interesting  -  it is okay to be confused and even better to question what is going on and what exactly it is the filmmakers are trying to say.  What evidence is there for your different theories?  The ideas you bring up are really good ones  -  are they necessarily mutually exclusive?  Where else is there evidence of ghosts and or the supernatural?  What ultimately happens when Hushpuppy confronts the aurochs?

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a really good film. It has really good performances from Academy Award-nominee Quvenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry, who was a non-actor and a professional baker prior to his role in this film. It has really good acting and a really good story of a father and daughter relationship. I may watch it again. YES!

Do you know how to insert an image into your posts?  If so, could you please do so.  Try to find one that is relevant/related to your ideas  -  not simply the poster for the film.

Keep up the good work.

Best,

MM