Here is why some of us love the movies: They let you see with brand new eyes. Not all the time, and not even often. Usually, the eyes are tired or cynical or cowed by the need to turn a profit; they let us see only what we’re used to seeing in a film, not what it’s possible to see. And it takes a very special sensibility to try to see something impossible.

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” is that miracle, a movie that shows us an entire new continent unexpectedly close to home. It’s probable that the hype (including this review) will have got to you and that you’ll greet “Beasts” — terrible title, by the way — with confusion or a shrug. I hope not. Bring no expectations of how movies, especially this one, are supposed to behave.