For Canadian writer-director R.T. Thorne (The Porter, Utopia Falls), his post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres, co-written by Glenn Taylor, has been years in the making. This year, he’ll finally premiere his feature directorial debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Over a decade after a worldwide famine, military veteran Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler) and her blended Black and Indigenous family survive on their ancestral farm in rural Canada. She and her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) have two young daughters together, Danis (Jaeda LeBlanc) and Cookie (Haile Amare), along with their older children from past relationships, Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor) and Raine (Leenah Robinson).
With food production being scarce and more paramount than ever, farmers have to stay vigilant and protect their land from violent strangers looking to steal and kill. All four children are as skilled with weapons as they are with running the daily operations of a farm.
The film opens with all six of them wordlessly and skillfully taking out a group of at least ten trespassers using guns, blades, and impeccable stealth. Right away, we see how they’ve each been thoroughly trained to defend themselves and their family without hesitation. But while his sisters casually celebrate killing people, Emanuel is visibly less enthusiastic.
When he realizes someone he injured is still alive and pleading to be spared, his mother instructs him to “clean that up.” His moment of remorse before execution establishes Emanuel as the most empathetic and curious when it comes to outsiders, which goes against his mother’s shoot-first-ask-questions-later philosophy.
As he’s coming into his own as a young man, Emanuel’s desire for community and connection beyond their secluded farm grows stronger. He becomes enamored with Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas), a girl his age he sees swimming in the river. And when she approaches their farm, he secretly helps her, knowing the rest of his family wouldn’t even entertain the idea of letting a stranger in. Due to a recent string of vicious murders on surrounding properties, everyone is on high alert, more than usual, so he’s taken a huge risk.
Hailey’s long-held issue with trust is a major part of the film. As the matriarch, she keeps her family’s safety above all else. She’s incredibly hard on them, especially Emanuel since he’s the eldest. But as we learn more about her past and the atrocities she witnessed as a soldier and a survivor, we can see that her strictness comes from a place of love and fear. Hailey’s only trusted ally is Augusta Taylor (Elizabeth Saunders), a former Marine, with whom she communicates via radio.
For a Black and Indigenous family, the threat of outsiders coming to take what’s yours runs deep. The film’s title refers to the federal government’s broken promise of “40 acres and a mule,” meant to provide formerly enslaved Black people with land to become financially independent. The Freeman farm isn’t just their home and sanctuary, it’s a legacy that some of their ancestors were killed for.
The mix of cultures is also a lifeline for the family. They still take time to enjoy music, art, and food, showing that even though times are hard, they’re able to thrive and allow themselves to truly appreciate the life they fight to have every day. These moments of joy brought a nice levity after several brutal scenes. It helps that there’s a natural chemistry between the talented cast, led by star/executive producer Danielle, who always brings authenticity to her characters.
Given the setting, 40 Acres shares similarities with other post-apocalyptic worlds like The Last of Us and The Walking Dead. While those stories involve the undead and infected, the universal understanding is that the main threat will always be other people. Everyone is desperate and will turn to anything, including cannibalism, to survive. R.T. Thorne was partially inspired by the pandemic, saying that when it hit, “our infrastructure shut down and people were stockpiling toilet paper and trying to get fruit…I started looking at the world like it doesn’t really seem as stable as we all want to believe it is.”
R.T. Thorne has an extensive background in music and it only makes sense that the film’s score would be fantastic. Composer Todor Kobakov (Cardinal) perfectly matched the energy and dread of the action scenes, as well as the calmer moments that warranted something less intense.
40 Acres is an equal parts action thriller and family drama, exploring the tragic impact of xenophobia and generational trauma in a decimated world. With elements of dystopian horror and coming-of-age drama, the film blends and balances chilling and touching moments to create a seamlessly captivating viewing experience. Already celebrated as a visionary, R.T. Thorne’s feature directorial debut cements him as an incredible talent to watch.
40 Acres made its World Premiere on September 6, 2024, at the Toronto International Film Festival.
