A little girl takes Nature’s pulse and finds it’s lost its rhythm. As her universe unravels and the climate flexes its muscles, she learns all is connected and that community is the key to resilience.

That’s my 200-character review* of Benh Zeitlin’s new film Beasts of the Southern Wild. It’s a timely movie — a story of survival in a poor part of the United States where the vulnerable suffer and go hungry while the wealthy consume and pollute.

The narrative chimes louder since Hurricane Sandy joined its big sister Katrina as the second mega-storm to strike the United States in just eight years. And while the film is about the United States, the community at its heart has experiences that echo those of poor people across the planet.

Here’s the trailer…

[*Update: 3 December 2012: I wrote the 200-character review for a competition run by The Guardian. My good news is that I heard today that I won. The film touched me deeply so the words came easy. I hope you find it as interesting and moving as I did.]