1. Cold Protagonist Achieving Redemption Through Dysfunctional Family
This is the first convention I think of whenever I think about The Hunter. Willem Dafoe is essentially The Grinch. Or Léon. Or Wolverine. Or Alan Grant. Or Kuwabatake Sanjuro. The cold, jaded man who has seen it all (except for families apparently) gets his heart melted by cute kids and sometimes moms, becoming, temporarily at least, part of a new dysfunctional family. The movie knows this. Its Martins character arc. Willem Dafoes Martin is a cold drifter by trade, who is quiet and lets the people around him say their piecethe kids humorous, precocious observations, Lucys venting and possible flirtations, and Jack Mindys passive-aggressive comments. But later in the movie, when Martin has developed to a certain point and the pressure coming at him from all angles gets to be too much, a logger in the pub says something offensive about Lucy and Martin goes for his throat without a seconds hesitation, disrupting the balance of the town and causing further conflict for Martins revived humanity. This convention should be somewhat of a turn-off, but it doesnt hurt the movie, partially because the movie prominently features so many conventions and influences anyway, but mainly because of how it uses it. Similarly to the other points in this article, since the tiger is the backdrop, the story becomes more than just about a cold adult bonding with cute kids, and gives Martins personal awakening more meaning. Martin, Lucy, the kids, and even Jarrah definitely bond over the course of the movie, but their relationships do not end how the convention would have us assume; rather, their roles make us reconsider the notions of the convention. This core convention of rediscovering compassion is what drives the other conventions of the movie, which in turn support it while they all come together to make the movie succeed. The Hunter succeeds not only because of its device of the thylacine, but because of everything it is and what it uses to show it. In a world where humankind has failed time and time again through cruelty and the decimation life around the planet, compassion is the only chance at redemption. When everything else is taken away, its literally the only thing leftthe only thing you can say with all honesty and without propaganda regardless of where youre fromthats real. Its how sanity is found in a world that is naturally and unnaturally (going through cycles of it now) uncaring and cold, a world that moves on with or without you. The movie doesnt condescend to the audience by promising things that arent true. This is Old Yeller and then some. I really feel it because the movie really feels it. The story is not completely solved. The ending is a beginning, with odds just as insurmountable as hunting the tiger but with a genuinely productive direction. Martin may not be able to say anything about reality, but he can make the decision to be there and care for the people within it, devoting his effort toward them, whether they know hes there or not. It is something to live for. In the movies point of view, it is the ultimate thing to live for. Although this idea is not present in the novel, it is still not original, but in the case of the film version of The Hunter, it comes from a truly interesting and moving combination of elements. Its a story we like to keep telling ourselves. And its cool when someone finds their own way of doing it. For now, this movie stays with meits representation of the simple hope within each of us for something happy in our lives. It reminds me of whats under everything else. Thats what the movie wants to do, and thats why it resonates. Click next for my conclusion