In a bayou far from civilization, a child learns to do what she can to survive.

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6-year-old Hushpuppy lives with Wink, her hateful and sick father, in the remains of a bus in Bathtub, a Louisiana bayou separated from the world by a dam. A storm approaches but Wink stays put. After a terrible night, during which Hushpuppy imagines that aurochses freed by the thawing ice are on their way to eat them, the man and his daughter leave the next day on a boat across the flooded land in search of survivors. During a drunken but joyous binge, the girl learns to mash crabs for eating. A rescue team catches up with them and takes them by force to a shelter, where they reject help and run away. Hushpuppy tries to find her mother to help save her dying father...

The debut of young director Benh Zeitlin (adapted from the play by Lucy Alibar), surprises with its freshness and acuity. Everything is seen through the eyes of the girl (the excellent 5-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis) who tries to understand how the world works without help from her father. Beast of the Southern Wild is not a tearjerker, and thanks to the girl it is funny, astute and full of depth. Once Hushpuppy has learned from her father to rely mainly on herself (and to prepare for the worst to survive), life carries her away.