The Night of the Hunter in the 21st Century

The Night of the Hunter speaks to people today because we fear to trust and money is the power of all evil. John's father told him to trust no one because he knew that people would come after his children for the money, and years later John noticed his dad was right. My favorite character was Mrs. Cooper because she took John and Pearl in without any interest of what they could offer her, she soon became a mother figure in her supportive role. I think a lot of what she says can relate to people in the sense that children are innocent, if treated well, they will treat you well in return. A lot of what kept me on my toes is the fact that John and Pearl are both kids with little to no guidance. Also the fact that John got frightened when his stepdad got arrested because maybe it related him to his father. I think that can also speak to people today, have maybe a tragic memory that they hate to remember when they were a kid. Also, I think Mrs. Cooper and the evil step father are what correlates with the love/hate on going theme in the film. The preacher puts on a persona as if he radiates love but all he shows for the kids are hate, jealousy and a need to overpower. He tries to bribe and scare them countlessly and I along with the rest of the audience, kind of caught on to his character in the beginning of the film. I think this is something that can still happen today, it has the evil step-parent idea along with money being the root of all evil. And thats what the preacher is driven by: hate, jealousy, and evilness.