Hunt for The Wilderpeople (2016)

This film features a comedic yet heartwarming portrayal of the meaning of family between the relationship of Ricky and his father figure, Rec that was gradually established through their adventures in the forest.

The main character Ricky to me is perceived as a delinquent boy who is in fact deprived of the necessary love and affection he needs as a child which he had barely gained from his experience with the child welfare services through the years. Picturing myself in his shoes, I personally felt worried for the boy after his foster mother's sudden death as I saw her as someone who was able to nurture him with the love and attention he needs. Carrying the sense of immediate loss towards the foster mother Bella, I did not quite trust Ricky in the hands of her husband for he seemed incapable of taking care and raising a child alongside showering an appropriate amount of affection. 

Ricky and Rec

One of the biggest highlights of this film for me will be the development of both of the characters towards appreciating and needing each other, and Rec's character development particularly was interesting and heartfelt to watch as he transformed from a cold distant man to a figure who was finally willing to accept Ricky towards the end. Rec may look like an old grumpy man, but he was eventually able to show his care in small subtle ways towards Ricky which was pleasant to watch. 

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I believe if weren't for Ricky's determination to stay in his foster family, both him and Rec would not be able to experience a relationship that is enriching with the adventures they went through in the forest and ultimately, allowing their relationship to grow.

Furthermore, it seems to me that Ricky has finally found his sense of belonging through his adventures with Rec and became a better and decent individual that could be notably seen towards the end, (noting the lost of bizarre fashion and rebel boy look) 

To me the character Rec, despite looking cold and aloof, is actually a man who is very much soft on the inside and most importantly. he became an important person to Ricky. I believe Rec made him feel protected and important, something that he could not gain from his previous foster homes. and gave him an adventure of a lifetime in which he learned plenty of skills in regards to surviving in the forest and potentially molding him into a useful individual.

In a nutshell, the relationship between Ricky and Rec depicts the significance of belonging, where both characters were deprived of, notably after Rec's wife passed away and Ricky being an orphan. Their interesting adventure demonstrates one profound lesson to take, which is the importance of having one another's back and a vital place of belonging to call home.

Grace is Gone (2007)

One melancholic and depressing film that highlights the painful journey of grief depicting a story of an unexpectedly widowed husband, Stanley, and the struggles against himself to accept his wife's death alongside bearing the stress to deliver the devastating news to his two young daughters.

The biggest development I like about this film is the portrayal of the subsequent changes in the father's parenting revolving around his inability to understand his daughters and express his affection. Stanley can be observed as a father figure who is notably awkward and strict with his kids, but the occurrence of his wife's death was able to eventually softened him up and opened up a side of him that was able to encourage him to express his love for the kids in a right manner. I believe despite taking such a devastating event to propel him to let his guards down on dealing with the reality of being a supportive father, it brought out the best form of father figure in him which he will vitally require to raise his children single handedly in the long run.

Furthermore, through the journey of the characters on dealing with the loss, I particularly liked the impact from the mystery revolving around Stanley's wife and how her character was still able to successfully bring me in with the family to mourn over the loss towards a character that was barely featured much in the film, yet the impact from its sense of emptiness and the remains of her presence in the film is still utterly heartbreaking and difficult to accept.

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I personally have not experienced the struggles of losing a loved one. I lost my grandmother at a very young age, but I was too young to comprehend what loss and grief really meant. However, this film has a given me a clearer insight on the elements and nature behind human grief through the eyes of Stanley, and based of my experiences from the challenges of missing someone who is away for a short period, I can particularly relate with the children through the struggles of missing their mother. To illustrate, my mother used to go on a lot of short overseas business trips back when I was in primary school, and given that I am an only child, I somehow shared a stronger bond with my mother and often could not bare the loneliness I'm in when she's away, even though if it's only for a good few days of the week. Hence in this case, I would not be able to take in a reality in which a particular someone who is special to me is gone for good and it is difficult to imagine experiencing missing somebody who is never going to come back, making it by far one of the scariest things to experience and comprehend. 

The biggest life lesson here to take is that life is short and fleeting.

It is important to remember that one should always take the time to appreciate what's in the present moment to the fullest possible way because time serves unpredictable answers in the future, and I believe the best form of mindset to cope and tackle the somewhat cruel natures of life sometimes, is to be always grateful and appreciate what you have alongside preparing for the worst, 

Because a life lived half heartedly with guilt, is a life barely worth living.

Experimenter (2015)

This film featuring the journey of Milgram's life story on his conducted experiments has given me a stronger perspective on how inhumane behaviors are of no exception to a civilized human being particularly when it involves a situation of conflicted empathy that is often real and unavoidable, which brings to the irony that despite bearing empathy to understand another person's shoes, why do we still perform actions knowing that it would inflict pain and suffering on others?

"This goes to show that it is of no secret that the ability and readiness to bring harm to another human being makes the brutal part of human nature and the society we live in."

One particular dilemma raised from Milgram's experiment is well, centralized around ethics, which brings an important question to ponder, what is a fair amount of stress inflicted that is considered acceptable in the name of science? Considering the situation of his experiment was staged in a manner of illusion, then does that involve deception? From what is portrayed of Milgram's character, I would interpret his inability to accept his experiment critics as a form of stubbornness, making it one of the ugly qualities his subjects equally have. His unwillingness to see the other side of things alongside his obsession with the nature of obedience has blinded him from seeing that his methods may be interpreted as an abuse of power in their own right. 

To further illustrate, his inability to see things on the other side was also illustrated in the scene where he was accused from a student in his Harvard class that pointed out his experiment was a deception and he reacts by shutting her down, He was also similarly prickly when he is confronted by a panel of researchers, and this showed that he in fact, looked down on his critics and saw them as a nuisance that should not be taken seriously instead of seeing the scenario as a platform to improve his upcoming experiments.

However, I believe to judge harshly against his approach in the experiment is to disregard the complexities that he has faced in his life, namely for instance, his history of merely escaping the holocaust tragedy. His determination to dive in his quest for truth behind the concept of obedience has created a world of his that hovers between the real one and one of his imagination. This scenario raises a question whether the resulting effects behind his experiment has in fact turned Milgram into an accomplice by inducing the ability in a person to harm another? Or is his experiment just pointing out the harsh reality of the brutal human nature?

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I believe the ultimate takeaway from this film is to convey a message that resides in having the sheer determination to believe in our objectives, as how Milgram portrays it through his determination and passion to figure the reasons behind the compelling truth of obedience. We may not always know whether our actions are deemed to be either right or wrong, but the best we can do is to continually have faith in our objectives and entrusting ourselves in hopes that we do not become the things we fear in others, for:

" Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."

Social experiment:
It'll be interesting to conduct an experiment in regards to testing how and to what extend a person can keep a secret when they are shown prior evidence to something that is unethical and against their beliefs, and if they are compelled to reveal when being offered incentives or something geared in a more negative manner than could risk them in more harm. To spice up and induce further decision making conflict, it will be interesting to see in regards to whom an individual is a keeping a secret from. For instance, it could be compared in terms of knowing the person personally or not, alongside seeing whether impressions formed of another individual could effect the way a person decides to expose a secret about another.

Amadeus (1984)

Amadeus features two talented musicians, namely Antonio Salieri and Mozart who shares incredible talent and passion over their compositions, though however, shared a friendship that was manipulative due to Salieri's raging jealousy on Mozart's musical gift which he presumed was a gift from God.

From this film, jealousy can be seen as the main theme revolving around the characters' established relationship, for it is notably portrayed as a fuel to Salieri's brutal plan on tormenting Mozart psychologically alongside his health in order to gain fame by taking credit over the written magnificent Requiem which he had pressured Mozart to write and ultimately leading to his death.

Salieri's root of jealousy in this case, may be a result of a self serving bias thinking pattern, which by definition, explains an individual's tendency to attribute their success internally but attribute their failures in an external manner. As illustrated from the film, Salieri believed that God is mocking his mediocre musical talent from Mozart, and felt defeated and challenged. Rather than working on his mistakes and taking Mozart's expertise into account to improve his musical improvisations in a positive manner, he attributed his weaker competence to the hands of God whom he perceived to have betrayed him. This self serving bias pattern portrayed by Salieri can be seen as an ego protection mechanism to sustain his self esteem, alongside helping him to cope better with his underrated abilities as compared to Mozart.

On the other hand, his perception of his relationship with God can also be seen as a form of egocentric bias, which bases on a tendency to rely too heavily and on one's own perspective and point of views, or in other words, believing they are special. This form of state on placing excessive importance towards oneself which in this case for Salieri, has led to the satisfaction of his ego and ultimately stirring bitterness from his brooding state of jealousy. For instance, Salieri displayed a repeated obsession on his special relationship with God and his given talents due to his good sacrificial deeds for God, but was taken aback when he found another competitor whom he felt was a sign of mocking of his talents from above. This displays a distorted form of perception of the world against oneself which can breed feelings of resentment and jealously that are highly detrimental if not managed in a proper manner

One of the prominent take home message which I've found vital enough to ponder on is that the greed for power can sometimes lead to something that could turn out to be more destructive, and ultimately leaving one to nothing substantial in hand but feelings of enhanced bitterness, guilt and failure which Salieri has demonstrated in his plan that has ultimately failed when the Requiem is left unfinished. He later attributed his plan failure as a sign of God robbing his source of glory from the Requiem which again displays a highly destructive form of perception that has led to worsen his psychological state on dealing with his unresolved feelings of envy and jealousy and consequently making him insane towards the end. It also signifies that how we attribute ourselves in regards to our thinking patterns is vital to determine our course of actions that can be either positive or negative, and we should constantly regulate and manage them in a manner that does not bring us more harm.