40 Acres is heavy on tension, light on details
At the beginning of 40 Acres, Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler), a strict and worried military mom in a post-apocalyptic world, tells one of her daughters “don’t waste bullets” after they fend off a gang of encroaching marauders. Mere moments later, Hailey tells her son to end the life of one of the marauders, who has been shot, and is now helpless and bleeding out on the ground. The son shoots the marauder in the head, a complete waste of a bullet. Hailey doesn’t seem to care. And, that, in a nutshell, demonstrates both the impressively directed atmosphere and the frustrating details in R.T. Thorne’s new thriller, 40 Acres.
40 Acres takes place in the near future, after Earth’s natural resources have been largely wiped out. As the opening titles suggest, “Now the most valuable resource is farmland,” which is an interesting and frightening narrative conceit to explore. The film’s title, 40 Acres, is derived from the “40 acres and a mule” part of a special field order declared by Union General William T. Sherman in the aftermath of the Civil War to freed slave families, a promise that was largely unfulfilled. There’s a clear parallel between the Freeman family’s (the surname choice is not random) fight for survival and retention of their farmland, and that of the empty promise Sherman made in 1865. The Freeman family consists of Hailey, her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes), older teen son Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor) and three daughters. The Freemans lead a very disciplined life of farming crops (and cannabis) and weapons training. Hailey communicates with nearby farms through a radio network. Tensions build when the farm network reports that a group of cannibal attackers are roaming through the region, with little defense from the Union Army, the remaining vestiges of a national military presence.
The opening attack that kicks off 40 Acres and the ultimate siege in the film’s finale are well-directed action filmmaking. In between the two sequences, however, the story plays fast and loose with details. The Freemans, established as a well-trained, military-esque prepared squad, act nothing of the sort throughout. Emanual, specifically, makes one stupid choice after another. Being young and restless (and horny) doesn’t excuse his willful disregard of his strict upbringing, especially in live-or-die situations. The script and staging need the most help, but the sense of dread seeping in from beyond the Freemans’ farm is pervasive. 40 Acres is R.T. Thorne’s first feature film after previously directing numerous TV series and music videos for over twenty years, which is made apparent by his skillful handling of efficient tone and atmosphere. Maintaining logic throughout a feature-length story-structure seems to be Thorne’s biggest challenge.
If you’re a horror fan, it’ll be hard to ignore the fact that Danielle Deadwyler also portrayed a strict, troubled mother defending her family on a remote rural farm in the horror film The Woman in the Yard, released only several months ago. Deadwyler is a steadfast presence in all her projects, yet the similarities between the two roles, so close in release dates, is an oddity. 40 Acres and The Woman in the Yard benefit from Deadwyler’s central performances and a few unique takes on the post-apocalyptic thriller and rural supernatural horror subgenres, respectively. Unfortunately, in 40 Acres, just like in The Woman in the Yard, the problems are in the details.
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40 Acres opens in theaters on Wednesday, July 2nd.
