40 ACRES Review: A Transformative Survival Thriller That Compels You To Heal
40 Acres is now available in the U.S. from Magnet Releasing. The film opens in UK and Irish cinemas from Vertigo Releasing on August 1.
R.T. Thorne’s debut feature, 40 Acres, is set in a not too distant future where the world is ravaged by plague and famine, leaving remote farms to survive on their own as they’ve become targets for violent cannibals and bandits.
Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler), one of several descendants of African American farmers who settled after the Civil War, is the matriarch of a family of black and indigenous members, joined by her partner, Galen (Michael Greyeyes). Raising three children together, the Freemans are a close-knit bunch, working from sun-up to sun-down, living off the land and occasionally venturing to the trade depot for goods. An electric fence and cameras surrounding their crops are all the first layer of security they have, right down to enough firepower to load a small army, and every single member, right down to their youngest, is trained how to survive.
It’s a tightly-woven regimen they share with a stringent set of rules that’s kept them alive and away from outside forces that threaten their sanctity. However, when Manny (Kataem O’Connor) meets Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas), a wounded young woman looking for help, it’s only a matter of time before the family gets thrust into deadly uncertainty. Trust, betrayal, and loyalty are the modifiers for a harrowing story of one family’s fate which may hang on more than its own survival.
That’s about all I can say without giving away too much on Throne’s film, just shy of singing its praises at this point. More notably, I’ve just about enjoyed everything I’ve seen Deadwyler in ever since she hit my radar starring in The Devil To Pay. Here, she’s an absolute force to be reckoned with in a role that’s much more physically demanding in screenfighting prowess, in addition to serving as executive producer.
To this, it certainly helps to have a script that coheses pretty well in its message and tone, crucially holding a candle to history. Manny is at the center of much of that unfolding in his coming-of-age arc, from boyhood to manhood. The intensity between mother and son is a slow, stimulating brew as Manny struggles to improvise his way after meeting Dawn, trying to understand things almost in real time. It’s not long until Hailey learns what’s happening, shifting things into high gear as Manny takes matters into his own hands protecting someone he feels is innocent.
Indeed, Thorne’s 40 Acres has a way of keeping you guessing, as any good, suspenseful and dark thriller does. The flipside is a heartwarming tale amid the violent upheaval and reprisal as the Freemans fight for their lives and their home, casting an emphatic spotlight on generational trauma and its passage unto future generations. Part of this is incumbent with the introspection that Hailey is forced to take having since made at least one friend, as a flashback sequence reveals.
The absolute cherry on top with the casting of indigenous characters in the core family brings added depth and representation in storytelling, in addition to Todor Kobakov’s score, and Thorne and co-writer Glenn Taylor’s use of Cree dialect between Greyeyes and some of his co-stars. I say all this without even going into the action just yet, which is amazing to watch, smoothly shoot, stimulating and brutal through and through. To this, and I know I’m repeating myself, but if you take nothing else from 40 Acres, take Deadwyler and the badass she is at her craft. A force to be reckoned with. Mark my words.
