Toronto Hidden Gem: Survival Thriller ‘40 Acres’ Explores Post-Apocalyptic Dystopia From a Black Perspective
In his dystopian thriller 40 Acres, director R.T. Thorne tells the story of Hailey Freeman, a mother played by Danielle Deadwyler, and her eldest son (Kataem O’Connor) as they hold opposing beliefs about how to survive the end of the world.
Set in a famine-decimated future, Hailey is a fiercely protective ex-military matriarch leading descendants of a Black family of farmers who settled in Canada after the American Civil War. Haunted by the murder of her father, Hailey seeks total isolation as she tells her children to stay on the farm to battle an organized militia looking to violently seize their 40 acres.
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But Hailey’s son Emanuel, rebelling against his family’s seclusion, has other ideas. He wants to explore the world and seek alliances after meeting a young woman from a nearby farm, played by Milcania Diaz-Rojas, in the forest beyond his farm’s perimeter. Thorne argues that 40 Acres, which premiers Sept. 6 at TIFF Lightbox, reflects a generational conflict parents and their children everywhere will recognize.
“In every family, the older generation tries to prepare the younger generation for the world that they know, and that world has hardship, problems and difficulties to deal with,” Thorne says. “I wanted to project that into a dystopian world where the consequences of your decisions are life and death, where famine is widespread and working the land, if you have it, is the most important thing.”
Thorne’s survival narrative ultimately comes down to a mother and eldest son with more in common than both will allow. He has sympathies for both his lead characters, but explores the gray areas in between their worldviews.
“I wanted it to be murky,” he says. “The ideologies are not black and white — one is not right and one is not wrong. They’re both right and wrong.”
Here, 40 Acres becomes an allegory for current political and economic issues in the age of Black Lives Matters, food insecurity and Indigenous land rights.
“I can’t lie. I started writing the film when the regime changed in the States in early 2016 and the world started feeling a lot darker for everybody, but especially people who look like me and other Black people,” Thorne says.
Amid a spate of shootings of unarmed Black men and women by American police officers, the director found himself dwelling on how to protect his young family. The threat of grocery store food shortages during the pandemic then occupied Thorne as the script for 40 Acres and its famine-riven dystopia took shape with the help of co-writer Glenn Taylor.
“A potentially small virus that killed lots of people messed with our infrastructure, the food chain was interrupted, people were stockpiling toilet paper, and those things made me realize this infrastructure we have in this world is very fragile and our institutions are maybe not as equipped as we thought they were,” Thorne adds.
Thorne says he had the good fortune to nab Deadwyler — whose recent work includes Chinonye Chukwu’s Till and Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson, which is also debuting at TIFF — to lead his ensemble cast. “She [Deadwyler] clearly elevates everyone around her,” he says of an on-set presence alongside a mostly young cast. “She just pulled them into this strict family atmosphere.”
The director’s eight-year journey to get 40 Acres to the big screen will culminate with a world premiere at TIFF as part of the high-profile Special Presentations sidebar.
“I’m hoping to just be able to go to the festival I’ve gone to for most of my life, where I’ve seen so many amazing directors present their films,” Thorne says. “Seeing these filmmakers that I admire as an audience member and a film lover, to then go to that same festival and be able to present my film, it’s a true blessing.”
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