Hunt for the Wilderpeople

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE           B                    

New Zealand  (101 mi)  2016  ‘Scope  d:  Taika Waititi                    Official site

The first New Zealand film to gross more than $1 million dollars on its opening weekend at the New Zealand box office, this is pure family entertainment, channeling the quirky, character-driven escapades of Wes Anderson, specifically 2012 Top Ten Films of the Year: #3 Moonrise Kingdom, creating a heartwarming story about a lost child, who’s only lost to the people seen in the story, as he’s center stage throughout the film where the audience knows where he is at all times.  Thriving on the outgoing, multi-faceted personality of a charming, overweight 13-year old child actor Julian Dennison playing a displaced Maori kid named Ricky Baker, described as “a real bad egg,” a comical misfit who’s been kicked around the block a few times, moving from group homes and foster families, but eventually running away or getting kicked out of every single placement after committing a series of seemingly neverending offenses so that now there’s no one left who wants him anymore except Aunty Bella (Rima Te Wiata), a rugged farmwife living out in the sticks with her cantankerous husband Hec (Sam Neill), both as wildly eccentric as Ricky himself.  The satiric tone of the film is set when the police arrive to a home in the middle of nowhere delivering this wayward kid to their door, where Paula (Rachel House), the child welfare services representative, hands him off to his new family like he’s damaged goods, claiming this is his last and final chance, as the welfare system itself is sick and tired of him, believing he might be better off in jail, but as he’s still a kid, they’re obligated to at least try to offer him some semblance of a better life.  After reading him the riot act, followed by a hilarious list of all his petty offenses, each one comically visualized, they depart, almost certain they’ll be back in a week to recollect him once again.  Ricky receives plenty of hugs and encouraging words from Aunty Bella welcoming him to the family while Uncle Hec and his dog Zag ignore him completely, hanging out in the barn instead hoping they never run into each other, as he’s obviously not too keen on the idea.  Nonetheless Bella stuffs him full of pancakes and pies and sausages and just about anything else he can eat as a sign of endearment, but this doesn’t stop him from making a break for it in the middle of the night, wandering into the vast unknown where Bella finds him in the morning not 200 yards from the house offering him some breakfast.

Told with amusing chapter headings, what’s apparent from the outstanding opening aerial shot whizzing just over the tops of the verdant mountains and vast extended wilderness of New Zealand is the natural beauty of the landscape, something put to good use in this film, as this is a home on such distant outskirts from civilization that there isn’t a single neighbor to be seen anywhere, where they’re really out on their own.  Perhaps the finest expression of the warmth and zaniness of his new home is the birthday song sung by Bella, Ricky baker birthday song full from the hunt for the wilderpeople YouTube (59 seconds), exhibiting lunacy and mad delight all at once, where Ricky is entranced while Hec can hardly believe his ears.  His birthday gift is a giant pit bull mix dog that he immediately names Tupac, so it comes as a huge surprise that shortly afterwards Bella dies unexpectedly, completely altering the balance of the universe for Ricky, as child services announces they’ll be out shortly to collect him, but not before the funeral services are held in a near empty church with the director serving as the minister, offering some puzzling and strangely ambiguous metaphors for the next stage in their lives which doesn’t really help them at all, but perhaps confuses things instead.  Weary of having to return to another institution, Ricky fakes his own death and runs away into the bush with his dog, accompanied by the jazzy music of Nina Simone, NINA SIMONE - Sinnerman (1965) [Video Clip] - YouTube (5:27), discovered shortly afterwards by Uncle Hec and his dog, combining forces while learning to survive in the wilderness, something Hec knows all too well, as its second nature to him.  Strangely, this is an inverse of Walkabout (1971), where here it’s the knowledge of a grizzly old white guy leading an urbanized young Maori child through the bush, where Ricky thinks it’s totally gangster to be avoiding the law, but he’s more of a pain in the ass to Hec than even he can imagine.  Nonetheless, in his own goofy way, he retains his comical sensibility throughout while Hec remains grumpy, dour, and ever stoic, barely able to tolerate a youngster that has no interest in listening or learning from him.  The two couldn’t be less alike, which becomes even more apparent when Hec stumbles on a rock and sprains an ankle, probably needing weeks to recover.  Channeling John Rambo in FIRST BLOOD (1982), Ricky goes into full survivor mode, Hunt for the Wilderpeople Movie CLIP - Hunting for Food (2016) - Sam Neill, Julian Dennison YouTube (55 seconds), mostly failing miserably in his efforts while Hec is a natural born wilderness man.

While Ricky goes missing, rumors abound with social advocates suggesting the grieving uncle has kidnapped the kid and gone mad in the wild, Hunt for the Wilderpeople Movie CLIP - Famous (2016) - Sam Neill, Rhys Darby Comedy HD YouTube (53 seconds), where a search party is dispatched that more closely resembles an exaggerated SWAT team, complete with riot gear, automatic weapons and bullet-proof attire, where Paula is leading the charge, megaphone in hand barking out instructions, where she has to be reminded that she’s not even a cop.  This does not deter her from appearing in front of TV cameras and announcing that “No child is left behind,” as if he’s been left and abandoned in a war zone.  The nation remains riveted to this developing manhunt, where Hec is being labelled a pervert with lascivious motives, becoming public enemy number one while behind the scenes, unbeknownst to anyone, he’s really more of the savior and guiding light.  The contrast between the two separate worlds is well drawn, where the intimacy in the wilderness, despite their initial suspicions and reservations, is actually a developing friendship, as Hec is actually saving Ricky from the forces of doom that intend to ruin his life, developing an “us against them” mentality, beautifully rendered in one of the most eloquent sequences in the film, a winter scene in the thick of the forest where they continually hide from the pursuing soldiers set to the music of Leonard Cohen, “The Song of the Partisan,” La Résistance/the partisan-Leonard Cohen - YouTube (3:34).  This is exquisite filmmaking, reminiscent of the barren harshness in the Scandinavian film King of Devil's Island (Kongen av Bastøy) (2010) featuring a similar prison break in the snow, adding a surprising degree of complexity and depth to what is ostensibly a children’s story.  While much of this turns out to be a chase film, continually pursued by the authorities, where arch rivals Ricky and Paula come close enough at one point separated by a ravine to exchange trash talk:    

Ricky Baker: I’ll never stop running! 

Paula: Yeah, and I'll never stop chasing you – I’m relentless, I’m like the Terminator. 

Ricky Baker: I’m more like the Terminator than you! 

Paula: I said it first, you’re more like Sarah Connor, and in the first movie too, before she could do chinups.

Adapted by the director from Barry Crump’s short comic novel Wild Pork And Watercress (1986), this zany mood is sustained throughout the film, mixing in strange social references and a collection of oddball characters to this already mismatched couple, becoming a coming-of-age, buddy movie where braving the elements becomes a battle of self-sufficiency, growing up and learning to trust oneself, where fantasy and humor are interspersed with expressive language and moments of tenderness, all part of the learning experience Ricky so reluctantly embarked upon in the first place.  Despite the obstacles, and the director throws plenty at them, the outlaw pair on the run cunningly displays a healthy degree of wit and charm, including a brief diversion into a Maori family that accepts Ricky without question, as he’s become a folk hero as a slippery fugitive on the lam with his photos plastered all over TV, seen taking selfies eventually posted on the Internet, where the missing kid becomes something of a rock star.  This has all the makings of a delightful children’s movie that’s just clever enough to be suitable for adults as well. 

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls

THE TOPP TWINS:  UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS                     B                     

New Zealand  (84 mi)  2009  d:  Leanne Pooley

There are some times [when] getting people to laugh, the whole crowd, that’s about the most political thing you can do.

—Jools Topp

Can a film be harmed by feeling too harmonious and upbeat?  Apparently not, as with barely an abrasive note to be seen anywhere in this loving portrait of twin sisters Jools and Lynda Topp, performing cowgirls who grew up on a dairy farm outside Auckland, touted as the country music loving, yodeling lesbians, they eventually become cultural institutions in New Zealand.  Their natural inclination for Vaudeville novelty acts as filtered through the Grand Ole Opry makes both of them something of a ham, each developing alter ego, comic side characters, but they couldn’t be more comfortable in front of an audience.  Perhaps the best footage in the entire film is shown early on when they sing on the streets as teenagers with Jools on the guitar busker style, where they are simply an adoring sister act with unstoppable energy and voices that blend marvelously together as one, where it’s hard to tell who sings what part, but as they stare into each others eyes as they sing, they couldn’t be more of a joy to watch.  It’s immediately obvious that they’re quite talented, especially for street musicians.  Realizing early on that they were both gay, with a brother who’s also gay, this was apparently quite natural for the two performers to be upfront and honest about it, never really having to come out of the closet, while it took their parents a little more time to process this surprising revelation. 

As American folk musicians identified with various causes and protest movements in the 60’s, the Topp twins identified with New Zealand’s social change in the 80’s, including the anti-Apartheid movement, the protection of Maori land rights, gay and lesbian civil rights, and the right to keep New Zealand nuclear free, all winning causes that they helped advance.  Even the former Member of Parliament, Fran Wilde, who introduced and passed the 1986 Homosexual Law Reform Act that for the first time decriminalized homosexual behavior in New Zealand, gave credit to the Topps, indicating their wholesome cheerfulness and general likeability offset the charges that gays and lesbians deserved to remain on the fringe of society, where opposition member Norman Jones is seen in the film at a 1985 public meeting calling for gays to “Go back to the sewers where you came from…as far as I’m concerned, you can stay in the gutter,” suggesting further that anyone who would befriend homosexuals was subject to contracting AIDS.  Even the Topps acknowledged that the hate tactics at the time were so out of line that the public was infuriorated by the general tone of hostility.  The Topps, on the other hand, are like the lost Trapp Family singers from THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) and revel in pastoral hillsides or pastures of healthy cows and horses, where they are at heart fairly mainstream farmgirls who have a special talent for singing and performing.

The twins topped off the decade with their 1989 Gypsy Caravan Tour, where they toured neighboring small towns while traveling in a small caravan on wheels pulled by a tractor, where at night in town halls they were met with swelling crowds, eventually leading to their own TV show where they introduced a variety of home grown characters, including cross-dressers performing comic skits.  While they are an odd choice to be the performers identified with a nation’s identity, their constantly upbeat, good natured humor apparently reflects that indomitable Kiwi spirit.  Their only apparent setback is when Jools develops breast cancer, forced on a heavy regimen of chemotherapy, losing most of her hair and energy for awhile, but never deterred.  There’s a beautiful anecdote about how when she returns home to her farm, the horses all came near her and helped nurse her back to good health by literally breathing life back into her.  Seen onstage years later after a successful recovery, she tells the story of how in her darkest hour she made her sister make one promise, that she’d sing her favorite song “My Pinto Pony and I” every day for the rest of her life.  Now that’s a song introduction guaranteed to bring the house down.  Still amazingly distinctive duet singers after 50 years, mostly the unflappable twins offer nostalgia-tinged music nowadays that has inspired them through the years.  While they’ve toured the world, they’ve never been interested in the limelight or fame, no limos, fancy hotels or major record contracts, preferring instead to remain committed to the authenticity of their natural roots, where they are right at home judging children’s sheep coloring contests at local county fairs.  While never getting introspective or delving that deeply into either sister, leaving out any hint that they were ever harassed, mistreated, or blacklisted, the film itself is more of a good will tour, an extension of home movies and concert footage, holding New Zealand’s box office record for a documentary.