40 Acres makes us seriously consider the near future

When I was young my mother always insisted that I do as I was told. I was resistant to her directive—well, internally resistant anyway. I always did what she told me to do, sometimes to my detriment and often against my own self-interest. There comes a time though where doing as you’re told just doesn’t play well. At some point you need to follow your own instincts, use your own judgment, and stumble on your own so you can have new experiences, gain some wisdom, and develop your own perspective. Right? R.T. Thorne’s postapocalyptic film, 40 Acres, makes us question this self-righteous stance.

Set on a farm in the not-too-distant future, 40 Acres opens with a group of about twenty men armed with guns, knives, and various swords quietly sneaking between the rows of tall corn and various vegetables. As they exit the field and  approach the large farmhouse in the clearing, they begin snickering and chanting like they had achieved their goal and were about to pounce on the property and its inhabitants. Suddenly the men bringing up the rear begin falling from whisks of sniper shots to the head. Others disappear under the tops of corn as if snatched underwater by some semblance of Jaws on land. Before we know it, all the men are dead from gunfire or stabbings, and the people who killed them rise up from the corn and emerge from the farmhouse unscathed. Along with two forty-something-year-old adults are four people ranging from about 10 to 20 years old.

Danielle Deadwyler leads the cast of 40 Acres as Hailey Freeman, a tough military veteran willing her family’s survival after a virus has destroyed all living cattle, forcing everyone to fend for themselves by eating only what they can grow. Cannibals, however, are a constant threat to the family’s existence, so they must remain vigilant to avoid being tortured and eaten by people who target them for food. Because of this reality, Hailey doesn’t play. When she speaks or gives a directive, like E.F. Hutton, everyone gets quiet and listens. 

The Freeman children are not only trained in combat but are also educated at home and held accountable for their work. When Hailey’s teenage daughter teases her little sister about being admonished for not completing a chore, Hailey immediately turns to her and says sternly, “Where is that book report you owe me?” Dissatisfied with the answer, Hailey adds a second assignment with both due in two days. The child’s humble response is only “yes ma’am.”

Michael Greyeyes, a Cree actor, plays Hailey’s capable partner Gralen. Each seemingly brought a child into the relationship and then together added two more. The eldest of the family, Hailey’s son Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor), is a point of focus in the film. An early twenty-something, he is seldom permitted to venture outside the electrified gates of the farm except to take his ATV on specific errands and promptly return home. However, he deviates from his mother’s orders one day and takes a swim in a nearby stream. While getting dressed he notices a young woman (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) swimming and follows her to a clearing, where he sees a community of people.

When he arrives home late, Gralen asks angrily, “Where you been?” When Emanuel explains that he got sidetracked, Gralen says, “I didn’t ask you what happened; I asked where you been.” Clearly neither Hailey nor Gralen deal in nonsense; both mean business. 

“Noticing” the young woman doesn’t adequately describe the degree to which Emanuel is taken by the swimmer; “entranced” is a much more apt term. Emanuel had already shown signs of longing for the company of a female when his mother burst into his room once without knocking. “Mom, could you knock?!” Being unable to engage the woman (whom we later learn is named Dawn) clearly frustrated him. His angst compelled him on this night to question his parents’ choices to isolate their family and insist that they neither speak with nor help anyone they might encounter.

At their core, human beings are social animals. Psychologists and sociologists attest to what happens when we lack regular communication, social activities, and meaningful relationships with others. Without such social interaction, we become inept at engaging others, experience detachment from our feelings, and eventually fall into depression or loneliness. Given its critical importance to humans’ quality of life, should social interaction take a backseat to staying alive? Hailey and Gralen would unequivocally insist that it does. For what is quality of life without the physical existence of the body?

When Dawn suddenly appears in front of the farm’s gates injured and desperate, Emanuel takes her in unbeknownst to the others. When she is discovered by his parents, Hailey angrily tells her, “I am not my son so you ain’t got nothing to offer me but answers!” What we learn is why Hailey insists her family be at their posts, trust no one, and do as they are told. 

The plot of 40 Acres is quite plausible. With news headlines about deadly bird flu leading to an unsafe egg supply and mad cow disease potentially infecting beef, it makes us consider the likelihood of a story like 40 Acres coming to pass. Add to this the alienating social climate today and the extent to which we seem perfectly comfortable dehumanizing people for the purpose of political and economic gain. In the event of a diminished food supply, what will we become? What are the chances that by then we will have dehumanized each other so much that demoting people in the food chain will be as easy as warming up a slice of apple pie for dessert?

40 Acres is an appropriately dark film in terms of its cinematography, and its storyline contains dark prospects for both survival and the quality of life should we survive. Danielle Deadwyler, who also played a lead role in The Piano Lesson, is powerful as Hailey Freeman. I would be quite surprised and extremely disappointed if she is not nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for this role. This film is a true indie with an ethnically mixed cast of relatively unfamiliar actors, and a plausible and intriguing storyline that we hope to also see nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

People as prey have come in the form of movies like Jumanji and Jurassic Park. In these films, humans are pursued by vociferous carnivores, so it is entirely reasonable to expect this. We are in their jungles. We have also seen films depicting cannibalism like Society of the Snow, where survivors of a plane crash consume the bodies of dead passengers in order to survive. This too can be considered reasonable. What comes closest to 40 Acres in terms of stories about human beings pursuing other human beings as prey is the Hannibal Lecter franchise, with movies like Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. The cannibals in 40 Acres are much less classy though; they don’t consume their meals with glasses of Chianti.