Originality is not something one can easily place in the same sentence with Hollywood these days. It’s one of the depressing facts about where the current state of filmmaking has taken us; remakes, sequels, and rip-offs dominate the landscape. This sad fact is part of what makes Beasts of the Southern Wild – the debut feature for Benh Zeitlin – so great.

Filled with life, magic, and wonder, this original little gem is certainly an experience to cherish.

In terms of raw talent, Zeitlin has it all. Not only does he co-write and direct the film, he also composes the absolutely infectious and lovely score. Beasts of the Southern Wild is an absolutely enthralling cinematic experience, as Zeitlin is able to emulate the visceral experience of the Bathtub, an at-once fantastical and harrowingly real southern Delta community, between the levee and the sea.

Quvenzhané Wallis stars as six-year-old Hushpuppy, with a unique presence and a dash of innocence, wide-eyed curiosity and a fierce sense of adventure in equal measure; rarely has such a young actress and character been able to carry a film with such command of the screen. Hushpuppy lives with her father, Wink (the superb Dwight Henry), after her mother walks out on them. Together they live in a community of joy. Shockingly impoverished and suffering from alcoholism and addiction, this community at the end of the world lives and dies by the water; their home.

Shockingly independent, Hushpuppy struggles to deal with her mother’s abandonment, and her father’s increasingly deteriorating health. She lives within the same mindset the film does as a whole, partially in a state of fantasy, while maintaining a stark sense of reality and understanding of the grand scope of things. The scale of this film surprisingly runs deep, but at its core is an intimate tale of hope, and one young girl’s experience living in the harsh reality of poverty, life, and death.

On multiple levels, Beasts of the Southern Wild is as an affecting a film as any this year. It lives in that area of our emotions that is simultaneously exhilarating and relentless. In Hushpuppy we have a remarkable young heroine, the spirit of adventure, and connection to her life in the Bathtub runs deep within the film, combating the cynicism and heartbreak of the all-too-real situations facing this staple of innocence.

Just as Hushpuppy finds beauty in the decay of the Bathtub, so do Zeitlin and his cinematographer, Ben Richardson. With each frame, these artistic masters seem to reaffirm their roles as simply giving the audience a lens into the world and mind of the untarnished being of a six-year-old. Above all else – all the rough thematic elements of the story, the fantastical moments of true wonder – this is the story of a six-year-old girl in all her wide-eyed optimism and her sometimes difficult, sometimes transcendent experiences in the Bathtub.

Hushpuppy’s experiences and actions are represented by both the present and the absent. The folktale-inspired images of ancient beasts called Aurochs, forever emblazoned into the collective minds of the residents of the Bathtub, are a harsh and inspiring reality to Hushpuppy; present in the mind, heart and soul. To Hushpuppy, her mother’s abandonment affects her in deep and profound ways. Zeitlin portrays this in a haunting manner, as Hushpuppy has conversations with her absent mother through the presence of an unlikely, yet obviously important object to Hushpuppy: a tattered, old Michael Jordan jersey.

As her mother’s abandonment affects her, the presence of Hushpuppy’s father does just as much. Wink is fundamentally flawed and a figure of warring beliefs for Hushpuppy, whose relationship with her father is one of respect and love, as well as pain and anger. Dwight Henry, who had never previously acted, demands attention as the passionate and damaged caregiver to Hushpuppy, infecting the screen with the kind of power that will certainly demand attention come award season.

The themes and messages of Beasts of the Southern Wild – those of inner strength and independence, the importance of family and community, respecting of elders and nature, to name a few – are impossible to ignore, but what is truly magnificent is in Hushpuppy’s relationship to nature and the world around her: the Bathtub. Of all the knowledge that Hushpuppy has received, from her experiences to the tales told by those closest to her, when the ice caps melt and the flood rains come, the experiences we as an audience share with this young figure of innocence are the most affecting of all.

Grade: A

Rated: PG-13 (for thematic material including child imperilment, some disturbing images, language and brief sensuality)

Beasts of the Southern Wild opens in limited release on June 27, 2012.