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This is one of those films where, upon first viewing, it seems less meant to be appreciated for its core narrative and more for the overall "experience/journey".
Throughout the film, I was torn. Am I supposed to view this simply as a drama? Is it meant to be taken as a fantasy? Some fusion of the two? Was this supposed to be taking place during Hurricane Katrina? The present day? Many years ago? Or perhaps a non-specific “every-time”.
The "Bathtub" community, among those depicted anyway, is a ragtag group of people who choose to beyond the Louisiana levee boundaries under semi-feral conditions, salvaging whatever they can repurpose, from wherever they can get it. A truck’s flatbed combined with empty oil drums serves as a boat. Shantys are constructed on the semi-high ground, but seem barely adequate for keeping out the lightest of downpours.
Among the children, seemingly no one has an intact nuclear family of both parents .. in fact, there seem to be no teens or young adults in the group-- it's all tweens and younger, and after that, middle aged folks and the elderly.. It seems that everyone else has either met a grim fate or figured they’re better off taking their chances in the city (or elsewhere).
A form of low-grade mental illness seems to be part of the collective, with the stories about giant cave monsters… Ms. Bathsheeba improvs what passes for schooling for the kids who are still around, and collects seemingly random roots and other flora as “medicine”.. Wink keeps a bottle close by at all times.. Tugboat skippers appear out of nowhere, with fast-food wrappers as floor decor... a floating strip bar (seemingly set up to cater to oil-rig workers) features “talent” that all seems to be 50 and older… When the Bathtub group is forced to encounter “civilization”, the victims’ aid camp is a place to fear and escape from like an asylum.
I kind of figured that the encounter with the bar waitress wouldn’t add up to much. By the end, papa Wink gets a Viking funeral, the big monsters turn out to be friendly, and Hushpuppy rejoins her extended surrogate family, fiercely determined and dignified…
But to what end? Choosing to subsist under third-world conditions (as a form of righteous indignation)? How did any of these adults get there to begin with? How does the community continue when the grownups die off from old age or illness?
The ending leaves a lot more questions than answers, but I suppose that may have been the filmmakers’ intent.
I can honestly say that the lead girl was excellently cast, and the father Wink as well-- though his character has a rather bizarre arc that portrays him as pitiable or grossly selfish, depending on your worldview.
