Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Hunt for the Wilderpeople revolves around the life of Ricky Baker, a young, overweight, orphaned juvenile offender who idealizes hip hop and uses haikus as a means to express himself in emotional situations. As Ricky ends up in a farm with his newest pair of foster parents, the film highlights the realities of New Zealand’s subpar youth welfare system. We learn that Ricky has a number of offences under his belt, and that his placement with Bella and Hector is his last chance at finding a family, failing which will see him sent to juvenile prison. Things begin looking up for Ricky as he and his “Aunt Bella” grow closer, right until she passes away. Unwilling to be returned to state care, Ricky runs away into the bush, not for the first time, and is found by Hector, which is where the story really begins.

Grief and Bereavement
The events of the film following its exposition mainly take place in the immediacy of Bella’s death. Although they have different experiences regarding this, both Ricky and Hector are affected by the loss of Bella, and this can be explained through the dual process model of bereavement. According to Stroebe and Schut (2010), bereavement manifests itself in two kinds of tasks, loss-oriented and restoration-oriented. Loss-oriented activities and stressors are those directly related to the death, including crying, yearning, experiencing sadness, denial, or anger, dwelling on the circumstances of the death, and avoiding restoration activities. On the other hand, restoration-oriented activities and stressors are associated with secondary losses with regard to lifestyle, routine, and relationships. These include adapting to a new role, managing changes, developing new ways of connecting with family and friends, and cultivating a new way of life.

Ricky and Hector’s life in the bush can be seen as a restoration-oriented activity as they adopt new lifestyles and roles towards each other following Bella’s passing, but we also see them engage in loss-oriented activities, such as when Hector cried over Bella’s body. Though less obvious, we also see Ricky display loss-oriented activities as he maintains the use of his hot water bottle. Originally given to him by Bella to provide warmth in the cold New Zealand night, it is possible that the water bottle came to symbolize her kindness and a sense of love or family to Ricky. It clearly meant enough to him that he would bring it along with him as he escaped into the bush, leading to the idea that the warmth of the hot water bottle was a way for Ricky to grieve and to keep the memory of Bella alive. Ricky and Hector’s actions which demonstrated both methods of coping support Stroebe and Schut’s (2010) theory that people will invariably oscillate between the two processes.

Psychosocial Stages of Development

The big age difference between Ricky and Hector also highlights the disparity in their place in life. According to Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, 13-year old Ricky is in the Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, whereas Hector could possibly be in the Generativity vs. Stagnation stage. The Identity vs. Role Confusion stage is marked by questions of who an adolescent is and what they can be, but Ricky has the added burden of dealing with the effects of being shuffled through the foster care system for a majority of his life. Some of the effects of this is his penchant for expressing himself through haikus and his familiarity with psychological jargon, like when he says, “You’re still processing”. We are also presented with Ricky’s love for hip hop culture, which is a big part of his identity and self-concept. Conversely, Hector’s gradual acceptance and care for Ricky could be due to the Generativity vs. Stagnation stage, as individuals in this point of their lives are concerned with guiding the next generation. During their time in the bush, Hector teaches Ricky the skills needed to survive in the great unknown, thus avoiding feelings of stagnation or dissatisfaction with his lack of productivity.

Final Thoughts

Despite being interspersed with comedic relief, the subject of the film was not lost on the audience, and our hearts still felt for Ricky and Hector as the attempt to navigate their way through a new dynamic without Bella. The film manages to blend humour and character study so well that the story feels as real as it does funny.

References

Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (2010). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: A decade on. Journal of Death And Dying, 61(4), 273-289. doi:10.2190/om.61.4.b

Experimenter

Experimenter recounts the life and work of social psychologist, Stanley Milgram, highlighting his more prominent research and providing viewers with thought-provoking questions about the limits of human nature.

Much of the film depicts reenactments of Milgram’s obedience experiments, as a “teacher” moves through the shock levels, despite audible protest from the learner, all the way to the maximum of 450 volts. As the number of participants increased, so did the number of teachers who progressed to the maximum voltage. Although I felt as if the pacing of the movie could have been improved, it is this slow, relentless and seemingly inevitable progression towards the lethal endpoint of the shock generator that constitutes the core drama of the film. The participants, Milgram’s fellow psychologists, and even the audience, are forced to accept that time and time again, each variation of the study still saw a majority of people proceed all the way to the maximum. Despite the controversy and criticism surrounding the Milgram obedience experiments, why then, do people still turn to them for understanding whenever new stories about the horrors man is able to perform arise? Why are these experiments still covered in almost every, if not all, introductory psychology textbooks? Regardless of the intellectual and ethical fallout following the publishing of these studies, their findings do have to be somewhat representative of the human experience for them to have stood the test of time and public disdain.

Much like the elephant in the room, would that which we refuse to address be that we are not as independent in our thinking as we believe ourselves to be?

Furthermore, the film acknowledges that the backlash to the findings of the obedience studies was centered not around the idea that the participants experienced lasting psychological damage, but more that they were unable to reconcile themselves as being capable of performing heinous acts under duress. This weakens arguments that claim ethicality as a reason to reject the findings of these studies. Milgram’s research on obedience holds up a mirror that reveals depths of the human soul that prompts a second look, even when we would rather not.

Arguably one of the most interesting aspects of the film was its artistic set pieces. In order to match Milgram’s character’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall and omniscient nature, the film occasionally features scenes set against photographic backgrounds that are clearly fake. This gives these scenes a sort of dreamlike or artificial feel, which perfectly matches the film’s experimental subject matter. I felt as if these visuals were engaging in a way that kept the movie from becoming too mundane and ordinary.

Although most variations and reproductions of the obedience studies still reveal a majority who display obedience to authority, the existence of the minority who refused to obey proves to be hopeful. As the film itself educates audiences on the downsides to blind obedience, perhaps future samples will reflect more resistance to authority figures, emphasizing that we need not always do as we are told.

"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." -Henry David Thoreau

Amadeus

Amadeus is a fictional account of the life of Mozart, one of history's most renowned composers. Although the title suggests Mozart to be the protagonist, it is really Salieri and not Mozart who occupies the centre of the stage and whose mind we are invited to enter. It was interesting to see the life of this musical genius through the eyes of Salieri, who arguably had less talent but invested more effort. I believe that Salieri's distress is something we can all relate to, as it is not a novel experience to feel inferior in the face of someone gifted with natural abilities. Throughout the course of Salieri's fixation with besting Mozart in the musical scene, perhaps nothing will ever feel as tragic as the moments in the asylum when Salieri plays his compositions with no recognition from the priest's end, only to have the clergyman successfully identify one of Mozart's pieces. 

In a society that values perfection, mediocrity is possibly the worst curse an individual can bear. Hence, I do not think that the greed and envy that drove Salieri to the brink of insanity was so far-fetched after all. Salieri's conflicting emotions over his disdain of Mozart's childish tendencies and his grudging admiring of Mozart's independence was interesting to watch, and although it would have cheapened the story, a happy ending would have been satisfying to watch.