HAVE YOU SEEN IT?

We watched another one of "those" movies this week -- the kind where you can't decide whether you loved it or hated it. It was one of those movies that was almost painful to watch, but which you're still thinking about, days, weeks, months later. They stick with you a long, long time because, even though your brain keeps telling you "It was just a movie!", your heart insists on reminding you "That doesn't mean it isn't true."

 
It's called Beast of the Southern Wild, and it's about poor families living somewhere along the Mississippi delta -- on the wrong side of the levee that protects the city from storm surge, in an area known as "The Bathtub." It's about people who would much rather be dirt poor, living off nature's bounty, than to be stuck in a smoggy city, working in some factory. Who'd rather face a hurricane in a shanty of a house, than be packed into a shelter like a bunch of sardines. Who'd much rather be dead, than in a hospital, plugged into machines. If you've ever lived along the Gulf Coast, you've probably known people like this. Heck, you may even be related to a few.

I don't really know what to tell you about Beasts. All I can say for sure is that, though I'm not 100% certain I enjoyed watching it, I'm 100% glad I did, for it's absolutely unforgettable. And that little heroine? Well, she'll turn you every which way but loose.