()

Submitted by Daniel

Ricky (Julian Dennison) is a 12-year-old juvenile delinquent who has bounced around foster homes. He is placed in the countryside with Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and her husband Heck ( Sam Neill). He eventually starts to settle, but Bella suddenly dies, and so Ricky has to be re-homed. He pleads to stay with Heck, but he doesn’t want to look after him, and it isn’t permitted by law to have a male guardian.

He runs away to the ‘bush’ or woods. Heck finds him but fractures his leg after trying to run at Ricky for teasing him about being illiterate. They camp out in the woods for five weeks while he recovers since Ricky can’t find his way back. In the meantime, since they haven’t told anyone what has happened, a manhunt for them has started.

The manhunt lasts at least five months, as due to misunderstandings, they think Heck has kidnapped and molested Ricky. Since Heck has a record, he thinks he won’t get a fair hearing.

Eventually, they are chased in a truck and caught. Heck goes into remand, and Ricky is cared for by a family he came across during the manhunt. When Heck is released, Ricky visits him and asks him to stay with the family, and the film ends with them searching for the rare Hula bird, which they spotted during the manhunt but didn’t have a camera.

IMDB