Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “40 Acres,” a new Canadian post-apocalyptic film starring Danielle Deadwyler and Michael Greyeyes, a family fights invaders and cannibals to protect their remote 40-acre plot of land.

CAST: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Jaeda LeBlanc, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson. Directed by R.T. Thorne.

REVIEW: A dystopian drama with edge-of-your-seat thrills and a beating heart, “40 Acres” does what good speculative fiction is meant to do, present a “what if” premise that comments on contemporary social issues.

Director R.T. Thorne, who co-wrote the script with Glenn Taylor, injects a vibrant family dynamic into a post-apocalyptic scenario—a world torn apart by societal collapse and cannibalism—that highlights the domestic lives of the characters without skimping on the action.

That the household is a blended Black and Indigenous family brings a unique cultural and racial angle that allows Thorne to seamlessly weave historical references, issues of land ownership and cultural preservation into the story. This is a story of survival, but these thematic echoes from the past deepen and enrich the storytelling, infusing the apocalyptic tale with a poignant sense of ancestry and allegory.

In a fierce and uncompromising role, Danielle Deadwyler plays Hailey, the matriarch of the family, with the panache of an action star while still allowing vulnerability to seep through. It’s a physical and emotional performance that blends nicely with the quiet power of Michael Greyeyes as Hailey’s partner Galen.

Director Thorne builds a detailed world for the characters to inhabit, and finds interesting ways, like lighting one gun battle only with the flashes of firing gun muzzles, to keep the action compelling.

A dystopian movie featuring cannibals is going to offer its share of violence, and “40 Acres” doesn’t hold back on that score, but by the time the end credits roll it is the film’s themes of family, heritage and community that linger.