Danielle Deadwyler and Michael Greyeyes anchor a tense, dystopian thriller where family and firepower rule the farm
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Along with its echo of the famous “40 Acres and a Mule,” a promise largely unfulfilled made to newly-freed slaves after the Civil War, R. T. Thorne’s “40 Acres” also partakes in its premise of Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower.” The film is yet another dystopian vision of America in the wake of a “fungal epidemic” and a “second Civil War.” Sound familiar?
Our primary setting is a small farm run by Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler, “The Piano Lesson”), a domineering and protective Black mother, farmer and ex-soldier, and the tough and proudly indigenous patriarch Galen (Michael Greyeyes, “True Detective”). Also living, working and training for survival on the farm are several young people. Emanuel, aka Manny (Kataem O’Connor), is a young man who tries to obey his mother, Hailey. But he cannot seem to live up to her harsh standards. Raine (Leenah Robinson) is Galen’s daughter and a resourceful and courageous fighter and sniper.
A group of untidy white men breaks through the farm’s fences and approaches the farmhouse through a cornfield. They claim to be friendly, although they brandish arms. Hailey, Galen, Manny and Raine make short work of them. There is much communication over CB radios with a neighbor named Augusta, another armed forces veteran, who appears to be Hailey’s friend.
The screenplay, written by director Thorne and relative newcomers Glenn Taylor and Lora Campbell, can be opaque in terms of explaining what is happening and who the people on screen are. A roving band of cannibals has struck at a depot where neighboring farmers exchange goods. Bodies have been strung up and hung upside down to bleed out and be preserved. Some of the cannibal rovers are shot and killed. Later, while swimming in a river, Manny comes across a vision: a beautiful young woman named Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas), who is also swimming in the river, but does not see him.
Every day, seemingly, Galen trains the young people of the farm in fighting and shooting. Manny bestows a coveted, captured switchblade upon Raine. Hailey is becoming more and more obsessed with staying apart from others, although she is partial to Augusta’s moonshine, being hard on Manny and preparing for what is to come. There is much to-ing and fro-ing in beat-up, but working SUVs and all-terrain vehicles. Dawn appears on the farm, and Manny hides her in a barn from his mother. Is it a good idea to light a bonfire in your front yard in this dystopian hellscape? We learn in flashbacks that as a child, Manny survived a cannibal massacre that killed his father. A shootout/knife fight in complete darkness, while the children hide behind a steel plate door, is nightmarish.
In addition to Butler’s acclaimed and groundbreaking 1993 novel, a classic of Black speculative fiction, “40 Acres” recalls Cormac McCarthy’s award-winning 2006 post-apocalyptic novel, “The Road” (and the 2009 film version starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as father and son). While the “40 Acres” narrative can be woozy and confusing, the third act battle with the cannibals saves the film and focuses its attention. While “The Last of Us” may be more accomplished, and “40 Acres” might not have much new to tell us about the dystopian future, Thorne’s film benefits greatly from the contribution of Deadwyler, who also served as an executive producer. Her Hailey glows.
’40 Acres’
Rating: R for strong bloody violent content and language
Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Michael Greyeyes
Director: R.T. Thorne
Writers: Thorne, Glenn Taylor, Lora Campbell
Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 