Hunt for the Wilderpeople

            “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is a comedy film that talks about how a man and a boy face their challenges while adventuring in the wilderness for five-months. During this period, their relationships bond and change from not trusting each other into a father and son relationship. They learn from each other and together, they grow. The boy, who is an orphan, learns how to trust people and feel love after joining the family. The old man also learns how to express his love towards others after experiencing lots of challenges with the boy.  It is quite warming when both of them finally admit that they actually care and love each other, although they are so stubborn to show their love from the start. 

            The boy in the movie, Ricky Baker, is a juvenile delinquent who has been abandoned by his mother since he was young. Growing up without the presence of parents, he is insecure and it is uneasy for him to trust anyone. At first, he wants to escape from the house when he joins Bella and Hector’s family. However, it is Bella who makes him stay. She makes him feels love and secure as she really cares about him. Unfortunately, Bella dies unexpectedly. The only one who loves him is gone. Feeling insecure, together with Hector’s remote and the fact that he is going to be taken away by the child welfare, Ricky rans away and starts his life in the wilderness. He would rather live by his own than being send back into the juvenile prison. When he is struggling in the bushes, Hector finds him. As Hector breaks his leg, they are forced to stay in the wilderness for some time. However, Hector is being claimed as a psychotic molester by the people from child welfare, which therefore forces him to hide in the wilderness together with Ricky for five months. During this period, Ricky builds trust on Hector and learns lots of survival skills in jungle from him. He sincerely believes that they could live in the wilderness forever, without being caught by the authorities. However, they finally get caught. Ricky feels betrayed when Hector surrenders. He still wishes to live in this way, but Hector refuses. Feeling angry, he lies that Hector molested him and accidently shoots Hector. Although both of them gets well in the end, from Ricky’s actions, we could tell that he values trust very much. It is hard for him to trust anyone and once he trusts someone, he would not allow betrayal. This relates to his growing environment, where he has no one to reply on except himself. Feeling insecure yet force to be independent, he has learned to reply on himself since young. However, he is still a kid that needs love and caring from others. Therefore, he feels angry when the person he loves and trusts disagrees with him. 

            Hector shows some similarities with Ricky, although they are totally different persons. Being imprisoned before, Hector shuts himself out from other people. He barely has relationship with other people except his wife. Having no child also leads him to lack of the interpersonal skills to deal with younger people. He is quite like Ricky as both of them do not know how to build relationship with people. Ricky’s arrival to the family is not welcomed by Hector. He does not really care about Ricky and feels that he is just a troublesome kid. However, things change when they have to hide from the authorities and stay in the wilderness. After spending time with Ricky, he has built the responsibility to take good care of him. Without knowingly, he starts to act like a father. He teaches Ricky how to survive in the jungle and tries to educate him that becoming a gangster is not correct. In the end when they get caught, Hector surrenders and tells Ricky that he does not want to keep escaping anymore. Deep in his heart, I believe that the real reason that he surrenders is that it would be the best for Ricky. He has learned to love and care about others, same as Ricky. Both of them learn the way to build relationship with others and together, they develop. 

            This story talks about the development of two lonely persons and how they build relationship after going through lots of challenges. It also portrays a message to cherish someone who you love as some people might need to struggle in order to gain a love one.