In a media landscape saturated with post-apocalyptic films that focus on white families and whose survival stories are considered relatable, co-writer and director RT Thorne’s debut film 40 hectares stands out as an inspired new entry in the genre's canon. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, the film goes straight to the point with its brutal exploration of what it takes to find hope in a world that seems doomed.
Set in a near future where the world is ravaged by a global pandemic, widespread famine and the outbreak of a new civil war in the United States, 40 hectares tells the story of Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler), a soldier turned farmer who fights to keep her family safe. With society largely broken down and the system of food production destroyed by the depletion of farmland, fertile farms like Hailey's that still grow crops are a precious gift that people would gladly kill for.
For Hailey, the farm is more than just a remote piece of land in the Canadian wilderness—it's a family heirloom passed down through generations from her ancestors, who first claimed it during Reconstruction. It's also the home she shares with her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) and their blended family of children (Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc, Haile Amare). But as relatively safe as the Freemans live, being off the grid and surrounded by their electric fence, Hailey and Galen know it could all be taken away from them in an instant. That's why they keep their children trained for battle and ready to defend their land by any means necessary.
Image: Hungry Eyes Film & Television
Hailey's strictness and her claim that they can't trust anyone reflect a deeper inability to bond with people or show emotional vulnerability to them – especially in the eyes of her teenage son, Emanuel (Kataem O'Connor). Every time he sneaks off to be alone in the woods, part of him hopes he'll meet someone new who will make his little world seem bigger. It seems his wish is about to come true when he unexpectedly spots Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas), a girl whose beauty inspires him to fill a sketchbook with drawings. But when the Freemans learn that the small, secret network of farmers they are part of is being systematically attacked by gangs of marauding cannibals, Hailey puts them on high alert to prepare for the inevitable.
40 hectares comes incredibly hot with a slick and brutal opening action sequence that immediately sets the tone Thorne – best known for his work in music videos and creating Hulu’s Utopia Falls — tries its hand at it with its first foray into the world of feature-length films. The Freemans operate like a well-oiled machine as they take down a group of intruders with precise headshots from a distance across cornfields and stabbings up close to make sure the job is done. They're inevitably lethal, because anything else would mean they risk being tortured, murdered and probably eaten. But Thorne and co-writer Glenn Taylor also foreground that for all her strictness with her children, Hailey has also instilled in them a deep understanding that protecting their lives is key to preserving the Black and Indigenous cultural heritage of which they are a part.
Unlike other apocalyptic thrillers like the first two A quiet place(s) and the recent Mad Max Characteristics in which people with dark skin were rare, 40 hectares it becomes very clear how the Freemans' racial identities shape their experiences in the end times. Often such films rely heavily on images of white nuclear families, so that they read like expressions of social fear of dehumanized Others™. But 40 hectares portrays the Freemans as people who cling to their families' tradition of survival in a world that has never truly offered them a sense of guaranteed safety.
Although the film is very much an ensemble effort, Deadwyler stands out with an appealing and, frankly, terrifying performance that conveys how much Hailey fears for her children. She would rather have her children hate her than have them devoured by ghouls, but you can sense that it still hurts her when sensitive romantic Emanuel backs off. Since Deadwyler conveys Hailey's dire warnings about the danger lurking everywhere so well, it's a little infuriating to see people make extremely stupid decisions that 40 hectares' plot in motion. But as predictable as some of the film's moments are, Thorne and cinematographer Jeremy Benning are masters at 40 hectaresThe action scenes shine in a way that makes watching them both exciting and stressful.
Although the final act falters a bit as it tries to increase the already high emotional stakes, 40 hectares ends strongly with a powerful affirmation of its central ideas. And as crammed with mediocre stories as this subgenre has become, 40 hectares feels like something really special.
40 hectares does not yet have a distributor or theatrical release date.