MovieChat Forums > The Hunter (2011) Discussion > Who showed him where (SPOILER) was burie...

Who showed him where (SPOILER) was buried?

posted 12 years ago by david-gwyther
10 replies | jump to latest

G'day,

Just have to say I really liked the movie.

SPOILERS!!!!
I can't figure out who showed Martin David where Jarrah was buried. At one point, Martin is walking across a button-grass plain, and someone flashes a mirror at him. He walks over, and finds the skeletal remains of Jarrah (including the drink bottle). Who would have shone the mirror at Martin? Was it the rival hunter, or a local forestry worker? Presumably, whoever killed Jarrah showed Martin where the body was...?

Any thoughts?

Dave

[–] Mr_Hamster 12 years ago

1. Glad to hear you liked the movie .

2. Are you serious? Nobody signalled Martin the location of the body, I'd say the reflection came of Jarrah's drinking bottle or some other piece of equipment.

3. What's with the triple posting?

Who are they? And what do they want?

[–] david-gwyther 12 years ago

Totally serious - I'm pretty sure 'someone' signalled Martin - you'll see that when he walks over, he picks up the drink bottle from the base of the log. I can't see how that would have reflected towards Martin.

I just got the impression that someone was signalling him - almost wanting him to find the remains of Jarrah. In much the same way that earlier in the movie, when he is refilling his drink bottle, someone lets off a rifle shot very close by.

I have no idea about the triple posting. I didn't post 3 times!? Maybe a mod can delete the other 2?

[–] Mr_Hamster 12 years ago

I think you're wrong about the signalling. I just rewatched the scene, and it's obvious the light's being reflected by something inanimate. I'm sure a reflection could've been possible with the sunlight coming from the right angle, etc.

I'd say that shot you're referring to was fired by the loggers, because Martin finds his car vandalized shortly afterwards.

As to the triple posting: you can delete your other two posts yourself by hitting the 'delete'-button (the one with the trash can) on the right upper corner of your post while being logged in.

P.S. I see you're new to imdb (welcome ), so I guess that's how you managed to post your question multiple times. Just check your profile http://www.imdb.com/user/ur35082656/boards/, click on your first two posts and you can delete them the way I described.

P.P.S. Not so sure if it's wise to put a major spoiler into your subject line, you might wanna change that by replacing 'Jarrah' with 'SPOILER' (as I did with my post)...

Who are they? And what do they want?

[–] AureliaBuendia 12 years ago

Why did he "re-bury" the body? I thought at first it was to preserve the remains from further degredation until Police / Forensics recovered them, then I realised he wasn't planning on telling anyone about what he'd found.

[–] Mr_Hamster 12 years ago

Why did he "re-bury" the body?

Good question. I think Martin didn't want to attract any attention to himself, his mission or Red Leaf by telling anybody about what happened to Jarrah. At that point he was still intent on fulfilling his mission.

Who are they? And what do they want?

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mandalynn10 12 years ago

My assumption was that he didn't want the family to know that Jarrah was actually dead... He obviously had a lot of feeling towards the family and didn't want to ruin it by telling them that the dad died.

[–] popcorndreamer 12 years ago

I actually DO think someone was signaling him, but (like a few other things in the film) It was left to the viewer to decide if it was a signal or not. I believe the person signaling him was Jack Mindy, here is why.

Jack Mindy KNOWS the woods, he is the best guide in the area, and I have to think he can navigate and cover his tracks pretty well.

Someone fired a shot to scare away the animals when Martin first started tracking.
Someone set off all the traps during the first hunt.
Someone eventually picked up all the traps and hung them up in a noose(see the knot shape), sending a direct message to Martin, "you will die if you stay here"

It wasn't the loggers, they called Martin a greenie until near the end of the film when someone finally spilled the beans about the traps. It wasn't the hippies, they befriended him. It had to have been Jack trying to sabotage the Hunt.

If you watch Jack Mindy's behavior he behaves as if he is under orders, probably from Red Leaf, but pulls strings and lays in the background to monitor everything so it stays "under control", and by "control" I mean he wants to prevent Lucy and the kids from ever being hurt. That is why he gives drugs to Lucy, so she'll stay passive, so she wont get involved and get tangled up in the mess. He is obviously in love with Lucy and wants to take Jarrahs place as her partner once the body is found. The way he responds to her affection, with a sort of guilt and longing, seems to me that he knows that Jarrah is dead, but he can't tell her. I think everything was going to plan until Martin shows up.

It's implied Jack is working for Red Leaf, they probably contacted him in the first place because he saw or heard the tiger as a kid. I don't think Jack killed Jarrah but I do think he knew he was murdered and where the body was. I think he showed Martin because it was a last resort to scare Martin off for good. He gave a signal and took off, his plan, Martin would see the last person looking for the tiger was shot and also (he might have hoped) bring the news back so that the whole Red Leaf problem would go away (they'd have no choice). Martin would leave and Lucy would move on with him. He didn't care about Martin one way or the other, but him being there (at Lucy's house) was not part of the plan.

He knew Martin's real mission, their banter signals that...Jack mentions "the college" and "your research" a few times sarcastically, basically saying "i know whats up" but without saying it. But Jack doesn't ever trust Martin with the family. Red Leaf killed Jarrah, so why wouldn't they hurt Lucy or the kids if they needed to. That is why he sought to follow Martin into the woods in the first place, to keep an eye on him. He also kept doing things to drive Martin out of town, subtle at first (firing the shot, bringing the loggers to the car which only he knew was there, leading the loggers to Lucy's house) then desperate as things spiral out of control (telling everyone about the traps, that someone is hunting the tiger, leading Martin to Jarrah's body)

By the end, everything falls apart. Lucy and Sass are burned to death, and we see Jack is devastated, knowing he (unwillingly) took part in getting people he loved killed.

[–] david-gwyther 12 years ago

Wow! Great Analysis - thank you for your thoughts... That definitely explains most of the unexplained loose threads in the movie. Cheers :)

[–] Mr_Hamster 12 years ago

While I still think that no one was signalling Martin, you certainly came up with some good points.

Still, there are a few things I'd like to discuss (if you don't mind ):

Someone fired a shot to scare away the animals when Martin first started tracking. (...) It wasn't the loggers, they called Martin a greenie until near the end of the film when someone finally spilled the beans about the traps..

They thought he was researching Tasmanian Devils at the time, wouldn't a shot scare them away as well, thus making his work harder?

Someone set off all the traps during the first hunt. Someone eventually picked up all the traps and hung them up in a noose(see the knot shape), sending a direct message to Martin, "you will die if you stay here" (...) It wasn't the hippies, they befriended him. It had to have been Jack trying to sabotage the Hunt.

Right, they liked Martin, but they still could've destroyed his traps, couldn't they? They even ask him about using steel traps at the gas station, which means they'd found them / knew about them, but didn't know who'd placed them there.

It's implied Jack is working for Red Leaf, they probably contacted him in the first place because he saw or heard the tiger as a kid. (...) He didn't care about Martin one way or the other, but him being there (at Lucy's house) was not part of the plan.

Martin living with Armstrongs actually was the plan, but once he started befriending the Armstrongs - that's when the things started to go haywire for Mindy. That's what you meant, right?

He knew Martin's real mission, their banter signals that...Jack mentions "the college" and "your research" a few times sarcastically, basically saying "i know whats up" but without saying it.

I don't think so. Here's the dialogue between Martin and Jack after finding out about the Armstrong's fate:

Martin: "Was someone paying you to follow me, to keep an eye on me?"
Jack: "No, I thought you were a scientist, like Jarrah. No one was paying me."

Judging from this dialogue, it's safe to say that Jack never knew about Martin's real mission. He'd bought the cover story.

Who are they? And what do they want?