BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (PG-13) The title Beasts of the Southern Wild and the hot, fetid landscape where it's set suggests the Louisiana bayou. The characters—a mix of black and white men, women and children—are bound by the region, crushing poverty and alcohol. They're also united by their resilience and strength of character. They might be wasted most of the time, but when it all falls apart, they know how to stand tall because they've always been on the margins of society. Or as six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) tells us at one point, they were all born on the "wrong side of the levee." People in poverty, of course, exist all over the world, but these characters remind us of Southerners.

The film isn't exactly set in the South, however. It all looks familiar, but we are firmly in the land of fable and possibly even fantasy. It's a doomsday creation story that metamorphoses into a creation myth. Hushpuppy and her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), live on a stretch of swampy land called the Bathtub, far away from any city. Their only possessions: a shack, a trailer and a few animals. Wink loves his daughter, but he's tough on her. He wants her to be strong and to survive what's coming down. The legendary Aurochs, giant boar-like beasts, will return one day to destroy humanity when the ice caps melt. Hushpuppy must be fierce when that day arrives. When a storm rages and the swamp floods, with salt water destroying everything, Hushpuppy, Wink and a number of his drinking buddies fight to stay afloat.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin's first feature. He wrote the script with Lucy Alibar, based on her play, and the look and feel of the film convey a prominent Terrence Malick influence. There's even a narration supplied by Wallis reminiscent of Linda Manz's worldly voiceover from Days of Heaven. You fear that the film is going to slide into arty sentimentality at any moment, but it remarkably never does. It's genuinely uplifting at times, though Zeitlin also stares squarely at the harsh reality of Hushpuppy's existence with Wink. It's not an easy life. Wallis and Henry are both extraordinary, especially considering neither one is a trained actor. It's a thoroughly ambitious and impressive debut film, and it's great to see fantasy used in a manner that is mature yet still exhilarating.