40 ACRES (SXSW 2025) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin
Danielle Deadwyler brings her fiery intensity to 40 Acres, a postapocalyptic tale about a blended family’s survival after a devastating famine.
Farmland has become a valuable resource roughly a decade after a fungal pandemic ripped society apart. Hailey Freeman (Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson), her husband, Galen (Michael Greyeyes, 1923), and their four children live on a farm that Hailey’s ancestors built after settling in rural Canada following the Civil War. (The title alludes to the reparations promised to freed slaves, an offer overturned and unfulfilled.)
Making his feature debut, director R. T. Thorne (The Lake) establishes decent suspense in early moments showing the family defending the homestead from marauders. Galen’s daughter, Raine (Leenah Robinson, 1923), acts as a sniper while Hailey and her son, Manny (Kataem O’Connor, Murdoch Mysteries), creep up on others with machetes. Younger sister Danis (Jaeda LeBlanc) itches to help, but Hailey insists on keeping her and Cookie (Haile Amare), the youngest, out of sight.
An army veteran, Hailey is a steely sort. She talks with other farmers over the radio but prefers staying close to home to avoid attracting attention. Considering cannibals roam the countryside, who can blame her? The film hits some slow spots between supply runs until Manny starts to chafe at her isolationist attitude, especially when he notices a young woman (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) from a nearby camp.
Fans of The Walking Dead, the Quiet Place franchise, or even 28 Days Later have seen some version of this “Can we trust these people?” conflict before. But the script by Thorne and Glenn Taylor at least creates a fresh family dynamic—Galen speaks subtitled Cree to keep his culture alive—and decent dramatic depth between Manny and Hailey. Deadwyler, nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress for 2022’s Till, again makes a fierce matriarch, sharpening her children’s minds as well as their combat skills. She’s also a scrappy fighter, as believable in hand-to-hand moments as she is with threats.
40 Acres premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival and is scheduled for release later this year.
