Quick Thoughts on 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople'

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Adventure/Comedy

Director: Taika Waititi

Run Time: 1 hr 41 min

2016

I had many mixed feeling about the film. I enjoyed the film most before Bella’s death. To me, the film felt much more sensical and realistic during the first few chapters. The beginning felt very strong and the bonding felt genuine. Towards the end, I was a little all over the place. The film could have successfully ended after Ricky hugs Hec; them heading on another journey was implied. One particular moment that I found extremely funny was the funeral. I think it depicted the length at which the director was willing to go in terms of including humour in all the moments that he could add it to; especially because he added it to the occasion of a funeral. The funeral scene was hysterical but also captured the message of the film. It explained that sometimes life can be tough but the result can be beautiful. I also felt that the message was reiterated by Psycho Sam. The paster says that there are doors one after the other and Jesus is behind one of the doors; similarly, Sam says that there is a form for everything, forms to get something as well as several forms to reverse it. I think both of them were implying that to achieve something, there might be a tedious process but its the result that matters as long as you know what you are after (another indicating symbol to the bird). I found Ricky to be an interesting character for his moments that included reading, haiku’s, dancing, hunting, wit, values(family comes first), courage, etc. On the contrary, I didn’t find Hec’s character to be all that interesting. When his character was first introduced and even after the death of Bella, I just felt that something big is going to be revealed about him; however, that never happened. I also felt that it was obvious that Hec would eventually come around to liking Ricky by the end of the film. In response to Taika’s strategy, “If you want someone to be interested in you, be silent”, I feel that this isn’t true for all people, some people might lose interest as they might experience boredom instead; similar to the way I felt about Hec. Giving a chapter to the film was unnecessary. However, if the film is based off a book then it does make sense to add that detail. However, in general, adding 10 chapters in such rapidity to that length of a film causes it to lose the meaning of the stylistic decision. Having 2 or 3 chapters generally allows us to infer meaning from the title to the visuals and allows for more emphasis. I guess we could say adding a chapter every 10-15 min was a comedic element of its own in the film; especially since it spanned a birthday, 5-6 months or running, and jail time for Hec. The film included small details, symbols and indications for the audience to follow. At the end of the birthday party, Ricky is gifted a Tupac. I think this was an important symbol indicating that something might happen to Bella. Tupac was essentially her replacement who would love him. I wasn’t able to pick up on this detail during the film. Another symbol was the hot water bottle which I think existed to symbolize warmth and relieve the pain that Ricky had to go through all the years within the foster system. Haiku's were another detail to the film that persisted throughout, depicting Ricky’s progress and growth. In the beginning, his haiku’s were about the things he disliked, while towards the end his haiku’s became about the things he liked and enjoyed. Haiku’s also demonstrated the way Ricky rubbed off on Hec—that Ricky was able to teach Hec something in return for all that he had learnt from Hec. I think haiku’s also displayed a more calm, soft and intellectual side to Ricky as he would successfully produce them at any moment; it contradicted yet complemented his city-like wild personality.

3/5

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