R.T. Thorne’s 40 Acres, is a Sci-Fi thriller set in a post apocalyptic civil war, leading to a famine in a world where “the most valuable resource is farmland.
40 Acres is a Canadian film that tries to find its own distinctive way of approaching the doomsday scenario, though many of its moves are routine. With farmland so precious and marauders wandering about, former soldier Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler) and her Indigenous husband, Galen (Michael Greyeyes), run a tight ship with their family, which includes Hailey’s adult son, Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor). All the kids know how to fight and handle guns
Hailey’s ancestors settled this land in Canada after fleeing Georgia following the first Civil War. The revolutionary posters and books strewn about their home aren’t just fashionable resistance material; they partly speak to this family’s understandable refusal to put their trust in institutions or others. This serves them well in their current predicament: The opening sequence shows the family blowing away a group of clearly ill-intentioned men (and one woman) who try to approach the farm. There are, we’re told, packs of cannibals lurking in the quiet countryside.
The film is a look at a post apocalyptic and post colonial future where economic survival is the primary purpose of life where racial divide and white supremacy are the subtext of existence.