Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

A movie that gave me mixed emotions; but I loved it. 

Home Sweet Home

To Ricky, the hot water bottle meant home

The first night Ricky stays at Bella's, he sees a hot water bottle in his bed. It brings him comfort and warmth. Over time, Ricky has been condition to associate the warmth of the hot water bottle with the warmth of Bella's love. The hot water bottle also signifies that he has a family and a place to live in. That is why, the night after Bella's death, Ricky was sad when he did not find a hot water bottle in his bed. He then proceeds to fill up the hot water bottle himself as he is trying to rationalize that he still has a loving home even with Bella gone. Therefore this shows that Ricky has conditioned himself to associate the hot water bottle with a loving family.

Furthermore, when Ricky ran away into the bushes, he brought his water bottle and proceeded to heat it up. He misses Bella's love and warmth, He misses having a proper family. To Ricky, the hot water bottle gives him a feeling of comfort, familiarity and happiness. Also, when Ricky finally gets adopted by Kahu's family, he is happy that he was given a hot water bottle. To him, he finally has a another family that loves and accepts him. He finally has a home.

Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal

Both immediately started accusing Hec of abuse

When the 'body' of Ricky was found in the burnt barn, Paula and Andy immediately blames Hec for the disappearance of Ricky. They don't hypothesized that Ricky could have ran away because he did not want to go back to welfare. Instead, both Paula and Andy hypothesized that Hec must have sexually abused him, causing Ricky to run away. Also, Paula attempts to strike a deal with Ricky by attempting to convince him to lay the blame on Hec. All he had to do was say that Hec was a pervert and Ricky would not go back to welfare.

These instances showed that even though Hec was an ex-inmate and has dutifully served his time in jail, he will always be labelled as a criminal (Lindley, 2014). He will always have that stigma (Lindley, 2014) with him. Hence, that is why Paula could convince Ricky to blatantly lie about Hec's 'crime'. She knew that the public would believe the false statements as criminals are always stigmatized. In most instances than not, society believes that ex-criminals would never change their ways (Lindley, 2014).

Paula striking a deal with Ricky

Furthermore, the stigmatization that Hec faced could have shaped his personality (Lindley, 2014). In the beginning of the movie, the audience perceives Hec to be a nasty, cantankerous old man. He is seen as someone mean, unpleasant and uncaring towards others. It could be assumed that Hec became bitter and unpleasant because of the way society treated him (Lindley, 2014). Though he killed his friend when he was young, the label stuck with him. Consequently, he only appreciates Bella and her love as she gave him a second chance.

This just shows the poor state of our society and how we tend to stigmatize and alienate ex-inmates. Thought they should be treated with caution; however, we have to accept that they have paid their dues. Society should learn to accept these individuals into society, because otherwise, these ex-criminals would just go back to their old ways.

I didn't choose the skuxx life, the skuxx life chose me.

References
Lindley, R. O. (2014). Life after prison: Ex-offenders face many challenges when reentering society. Retrieved from https://news.wbhm.org/