RIOTUS

If the end of the world comes and Danielle Deadwyler is your matriarch, you might make it out alive—and with your soul intact. The fiercely intelligent post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres marks the feature debut of writer-director R.T. Thorne, co-written with Glenn Taylor and Lora Campbell. Thorne is known for his work on the award-winning series The Porter, and Utopia Falls, and spent six years shepherding this project from idea to screen, drawing inspiration from the tumult of recent years—think political fallout, the pandemic, and ongoing struggles for rights.

After plagues, upheaval, and societal collapse, the Freeman family is left to defend their land as the world unravels. It’s a premise I couldn’t wait to see unfold. In my essay “Black Women vs. the End of the World, Again” for RogerEbert.com, I wrote that Black women have increasingly become central to apocalyptic narratives, not just as survivors but as leaders and visionaries who reimagine what comes after catastrophe—on film, TV, and in books. 40 Acres is a sharp addition to that tradition. The creative team leads with symbolism in both the title, referring to the real-life promise of “40 acres and a mule,” and the family’s last name—Freeman—which carries its own historic weight. But what struck me most is the choice to center a Black and Indigenous American family who must fight for their land as the world falls to ruin. Thorne and his co-writers use these touchstones to link the story to history so that what happens next feels not only possible but real. That choice of framing resonates.

The cast is anchored by Deadwyler as Hailey Freeman, delivering a performance with the same electricity she brought to Station Eleven’s “Hurricane”—another turn on a growing list of roles she should’ve won awards for. This woman should be dripping in acting gold, but the industry seems to take her greatness for granted. Here, Deadwyler embodies both the memory and the muscle of a mother and a soldier who has to hold herself and her family together amid her own trauma. Michael Greyeyes, as Galen, brings a steady, grounding warmth—another actor who deserves accolades, and I hope he’ll be given them. I’ll admit I’m biased: I’ve had a huge cinematic crush on Greyeyes his entire career. As an actor, he’s been a romantic lead, a comedic politician, a survivor of colonialism, and beyond. In every role, there is a depth of feeling and complexity. In 40 Acres, Deadwyler’s Hailey and Greyeyes’s Galen are partners in both love and resistance. Their dynamic is refreshingly real, with a lived-in intimacy and mutual respect. Kataem O’Connor, as their eldest son Emanuel, is strong too, especially in those mother-son scenes with Deadwyler that pulse with tension and love left unspoken.

In the world of post-apocalyptic science fiction—where films like A Quiet Place: Day One use silence and suspense to explore survival, and The Last of Us grounds catastrophe in the bonds of chosen family—40 Acres carves out its own space by rooting the end of the world in the everyday acts of care, memory, and perseverance. The film’s high points come from its attention to the rhythms of family life under pressure: the way a meal is shared, a boundary is defended, or a story is passed down. My only tiny quibble is one we see a lot—a teenager whose impulsive choices inadvertently put the family at risk. It’s a trope that’s become almost as inevitable as the apocalypse itself. Still, 40 Acres lets the land, the family, and the fight speak for themselves, with Thorne’s direction keeping things crisp and the stakes personal. By weaving historical resonance into a story of survival, this film stands proudly within the genre, offering a vision that is as much about what we inherit as what we endure. 40 Acres is a rare bloom in the thematic post-apocalyptic landscape: sharp, singular, soulful, and stubbornly alive.

Directed by R.T. Thorne

Starring
Danielle Deadwyler
Michael Greyeyes
Kataem O’Connor
Milcania Diaz-Rojas