DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
This Year’s Oscar ‘Little Engine that Could’
© NaimaLett.com/blog

© Fox Searchlight, Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild

I know it seems early for Oscar predictions…
but this is traditionally the time of year that Oscar Buzz begins in LaLa Land.

The last of the BIG 3 film festivals that normally premieres Oscar Award-winning films just closed this week. That’s Toronto. The other 2 are Sundance (January) and Cannes (May). When Toronto wraps, the Oscar race runs.

Oscar campaigns start rolling out. Be clear: no film or actor wins an Oscar without a well- planned and executed advertising campaign to those 5,765 Academy voters described by the LA Times article “Unmasked the Academy” as 94% Caucasian, 77% male, median age 62.

People ask me all the time why Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for going rogue in Training Day instead of his role as Malcolm X OR why Halle Berry won for Monster’s Ball when she finally bared all in an explicit scene. My answer is usually a question: “Do you know who’s voting?” :=)

OSCAR’S LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD

Every year, there’s an Oscar “Little Engine that Could” film. Last year, it was The Artist. Year before, The King’s Speech. Before that, Slumdog Millionaire. These are independent films that are so non-traditional and made with such ‘nothing’ budgets in comparison to Hollywood’s tent poles that they become Rocky-like underdogs. And Hollywood loves an underdog.

I saw a film last weekend that potentially could be that underdog: Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Fox Searchlight describes its Rocky-esque contender with the following: “Benh Zeitlin’s BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD whisks you to a surreal realm, where little girls and mythical animals coexist in a bayou called The Bathtub, all intertwined in the cosmic mesh of the universe. Hushpuppy (stunning newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis) relentlessly explores her world for answers, to satisfy her curiosity, and to make her budding mark on a world she’s only beginning to comprehend.”

Quvenzhané Wallis (pictured above) portrays Hushpuppy. When she auditioned, she was only 5 years old and could barely read. She had never acted before, yet she landed the role over 4,000 little actresses who auditioned. She filmed the movie when she was 6. She just turned 9, and the Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that she’s being honored with the first major trophy of the Oscar season on October 22nd at the Beverly Hilton: Hollywood Film Award’s New Hollywood Award. In the past, this award honoring best new talent has gone to Robert Pattinson (Twilight), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), and Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games).

But Quvenzhané isn’t the only first-time actor. The other star of the film, Dwight Henry (who portrays her onscreen father Wink), also had never acted before this film. He’s the Hurricane Katrina survivor who owned the bakery across from Beast’s casting office in Louisiana. He even turned down the role of Wink several times before the writer/director’s persistence persuaded him to do it. He’s now filming a new movie with Brad Pitt.

That writer/director who wouldn’t take “NO” for an answer is Ben Zeitlin, and this is his very first full-length feature film, or that’s the story that is being released. You heard me – #1. Ben didn’t have lots of money where he could hire lots of professional crew. He used friends and family. He says, “I want to fill my life and my films with wild, brave, goodhearted people, and whatever amount of chaos and disaster that leads too, it doesn’t matter because you’re going through it with the people you love and in the end, no matter what, the movies come out wild, brave and good hearted.”

Fam, do you get this?
1st time writer/director.
1st time filmmakers/crew.
1st time lead actor and actress.
And its a fantasy story well told with a message of courage and heart.
Little engine that could.

Disclaimer:
Now, the language is rough for children, even though the film stars a 6-year old, and there’s some violence and adult situations.

And the underlying message is more naturalistic than monotheistic. In other words, Hushpuppy learns that all of nature is connected as one – humans, animals, water, fire, etc. That’s more naturalism. Biblically-speaking, I can’t back that up. While I appreciate nature as God’s creation, I believe that I am not one with nature.

Genesis 1 – 3 clearly describes how God created nature, then He created man in His image and instructed man to subdue nature. As a result of sin and the curse, man will “return to the ground because from it you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 3:19

Death and our current earthly bodies returning to dust comes as a direct result of sin. But each one of us lives eternally. There is life beyond earthly death. We can choose to spend that eternity in paradise with God when we accept His Son Jesus as Lord, or choose to spend that eternity disconnected from God in a world of perpetual pain and suffering. Our choice. But either way, while we’re on this earth, we are made in God’s image redeeming a fallen world. We are not made as one with His trees or oceans or chickens. Does that make sense?

The film doesn’t explicitly address this theological discussion, but I noticed a recurring theme of Hushpuppy’s oneness with her surroundings; so I feel responsible to create dialogue about those elements that agree and disagree with our Christian worldview.

Anyway, if you get a chance, go get lost in this fantasy drama. Be warned. It’s a tear-jerker. You’ll cheer for the underdogs during the film and cheer when they are each nominated for Academy Awards. It’ll be a really LONG shot for them to actually win Best Picture. After all, they’ll be up against Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables and Lincoln.

But I’ll be cheering little Quvenzhané, who at 6 years old, held her own on that big screen. I’ll cheer as she walks the red carpet and pray that more doors open for her to hone her craft and carve out a career where she can take on roles that bring forth truth and hope in our world.

What’s your “little engine that could”?
Go on! Be a 1st time underdog and make us proud,
Naima

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