Exploing Charcters in the Film Boy

The film ‘Boy’ directed Taika Waititi, is a New Zealand comedy told in the point of view of an eleven year old ‘Boy’ in 1984. Boy lives in a seaside rural, Maori community on the East Coast of New Zealand. In the movie we see his struggle in coping with girls, gangs, drugs, the death of his mother at a young age and the arrival of his dad who has been away for seven years. Boy plays an important role in the film because he shows how much children in the 1980’s where independent and often had no adults to look after them, therefore Boy had learnt about responsibility at a young age. Boy is also important because he shows that even though his family has nothing we can still see that he is happy. He is also significant because throughout the movie we see him develop from his fantasy world formed in his head to face the inarguable truths of life.
Waititi uses voice over to explore Boy’s character, and the idea that children in the 1980’s were independent at such a young age, and there were often no adults to look after them so Boy, the eldest child, was left with a lot of responsibility. We see this during the opening montage, in a wide angle shot of Boy’s caregiver, his Nan, leaving for a funeral in Wellington and Boy’s dialogue in voice over, “While she’s gone, I’m in charge”. Boy plays an important role of showing us the way of life that was accepted in 1984. This part of the film shows us that it was normal for kids to be self-reliant in the period of time they were living in, and to take on a lot of responsibility. The director also shows this later in the film to similar effect in a mid-shot when Boy is placing food on the table for his younger brother, and cousins. Our response as an audience is very taken back because we can’t comprehend that a Boy of only eleven years could be left with such responsibility. In this way the director has reminded us of how lucky we are in this day in age where we do not have the responsibilities Boy had to deal with. Boy’s