Week 10: Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Ricky seems to face abandonment issues. He’s always been told that no one wants him and that he is a reject; his mother had left him and there’s no one who would want to adopt him. He seems to internalise it and believe it himself. He acts out through antisocial behaviour, such as “burning stuff, defacing stuff, hitting stuff.” Perhaps he is acting out because he is not the given the right attention that he needs. He is constantly looked at through a negative light. Ricky has been moved from place to place, often without considering what he wants. The child welfare officers believed that they knew what was best, even though it was making Ricky unhappy. They think that he can’t think for himself because he is young, and thus executes decisions based on their feelings, not Ricky’s. He may feel unheard and invisible because of this, and acting out is one of the ways that he may get attention.

Moreover, Ricky seems to have been labeled - and this label has stuck to him. He’s been considered a problematic child because of his inappropriate behaviour, and even considered dangerous. It seems as though he’s accepted this label and goes along with it. However, it is also important to remember that he is merely a twelve year old, and not everything he does has been done on purpose. For instance, he accidentally burned down Hector’s farm but was misinterprated as him doing it intentionally. When in fact, sometimes he just doesn’t know what he’s doing. Ricky can’t help that, but trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes.

Apart from that, the character development between Ricky and Hector has been one of the main elements in the film. They both started off being restrictive in their communication between each other, especially Hector, who tried to shut himself off from Ricky. However, they begin to open up and disclose personal information about each other. For example, Hector can't read and the adults tried to cover up the cause of Amber's death, Ricky's friend, from him. They began to develop a friendship over the course of time when they were in the bush. Bella was the reason for them coming together and meeting, and it was the reason that they had stayed together. They bonded over here despite her not being there physically.