Ranger (Film)

Ranger
Directed by	Erika Nartug
Screenplay by	Grety Rana
Produced by	James Martin
Distributed by	Warryt Productions
Release date	January 14, 2023
Running time	1hr 37min
Country	Pongi
Languages	Pongian, English
Budget	34 Million

Ranger is an Pongian adventure/drama film directed by Erika Nartug. It follows the adventures of a teenage boy and his friends, which call themselves the "Rangers" for exploring around their small town. It also shows various aspects of Pongian culture, especially in the English version, and was given the Best Production in the Rygerrof Film Festival. It was nominated for three awards at the 97th Tofino Film Festival, winning Best Art Direction.

Plot

The movie is set in the fictional town of Brenxham, located in the high mountains of Pongi. Surrounded by a tight-knit friend group, Matt Rennan goes looking for the town's supposed lost treasure, as friends Jane, Queen, Dan and Elle help Matt in his pursuit for the lost treasure, in a story that combines an adventure based theme with a romantic spin.

In Brenxham, mainly a secretive and closed-off town, a nightmare ensues when adventurist Matthew "Matt" Rennan, is split between continuing his academic study to become a doctor or pursuing his dream of mountain climbing and travelling. Soon, it comes to the point that his family overwhelm him with too much pressure, and decides to move to the big city so he can start a new life. There, he meets another few "rangers" that have always wanted to explore the mountains, but never had the opportunity to. The group leader, Zach invites Matt into the group, realising that he grew up on the mountains that they've always wanted to climb. They pledge to climb the mountain together someday, after forming a strong bond over the past few months. Soon, Matt develops a crush on Jade, Zach's boyfriend. As Zach is annoyingly suspicious, the group decide to give the mountains a try.

As Matt returns to his hometown, he finds about the passing of his grandfather. This saddens the group, who console Matt as his grandfather was the most loving figure in his life, however leaving a ton of specially classified documents for Matt to look at. This unveils the immense treasure, hiding inside a deep cove at the top of Mount Brenx. Zach acted shocked as he'd never realised that Matt's grandfather held the key to a hidden, diamond city. Matt smirks at Jade, as Zach pulls everyone out of the house and forms a plan. Queen welcomes Matt back into the village, confessing her true love to him , however as he seemed unfazed, asked her to come with them on their ultimate journey as she had "terrific navigational skills". However, Matt's parents could not know of it, as they were proved to be money launderers and would love to get their hands on this valuable piece of history.

Matt calls friend Tom quickly, as he has climbed up the mountain multiple times. They look towards the trailhead of Mount Brenx optimistically. Before entering, Matt reads a creepy prophecy that takes him back. "Anyone who dares try, shall win in the wrath of hell. Spread out on bearings, collect to find the prize. Worthiness is gained through bravery along the way", along with an undescriptable code unless if they had collected the all-important bearing pieces. Nonetheless, the friends climb up the mountain, with Matt and Jade sharing a kiss before leaving Brenxham for what possibly could be the last time.

With Zach leading the way on one of the most difficult trails they have all encountered, Tom makes an advance to help everyone set up camp for the first night, which would be the start of a long journey. Waking up early, a few group members look for the hiding bearings on Matt's Grandfather's old map. They would all have to face a seperate set of challenges including wildlife and a dangerous deviation from the trail normal hikers go through. Little did they know, Matt's parents zoomed to the top, waiting for them to appear and to hand them the special bearings. Zach finds the first bearing, which was West. It was considered the easiest to climb, so he headed towards the group to help them. Slowly gathering the bearings, Zach approaches Matt about Jade, who admitted to having a crush on him. A small fight ensued, which put the group another day off from reaching the summit.

The last stone bearing was the most difficult to find; cutting through a barely visible trail, it was situated stubbornly, perched up high alongside the Northern Cliffs. Matt was forced to go up, before realising that someone had already taken the statue bearing. The group erupted into discreet sadness before Dan looks slowly towards the summit, seeing Matt's parents on the summit, and with the North Bearing Rock. This meant that they would have to climb the whole mountain before trying to survive a fight with Matt's own parents, who forged through the documents illegally, and knew that the group had a clear incentive for climbing the mountain. They all decided to fight another day, powering tiredly up an alternative route towards the summit.

After reaching the summit and watching Matt's parents in their camp, the teens decide to steal the remaining bearing rock, which helped them to decipher the code. However, the two adults came up and stole all the pieces before conjuring a translation spell. A enthralling fight ensued, with neither side looking to push the other off the mountain. Stealing their pieces, Zoe and Brad manage to complete the translation, which becomes an absolute distaster. More so, start rushing down towards the enlightened cove as quickly as possible. Zach, Tom and Jade all decided to rush down to capture the treasure, even with clear opposition from Matt. However all of them forgot the prophecy that was given, and when there was no treasure, Zach decide to set up flares and Tom put Brad into a tight chokehold. After seeing the flares, the rest of the group rush down, however it was unfortunately too late for Tom to be saved, as he was wrapped up to the gun by Matt's own dad. All of them seem to unite against them, and were successful in pushing them down a very steep mountain. Afterwards, Matt was crying because of the loss of his parents, who were kind figureheads to him growing up. Jade and Matt shared a kiss, right in front of Zach, to his horror. He runs towards the spot where the treasure was located, and fought Queen and Dan who tackled him endlessly for being a horrid person. Eventually, he fell into the lava pit to their happiness.

Queen and Dan soon reveal the treasure was behind the lava cove where everyone were fighting, and they all soon end up taking the diamonds, however with no way back up and a few days before snow season, time is running out..

Cast

• Matthew (Matt) Rennan, played by Rowan Acres
• Zachary (Zach) Elise, played by Johnathan Mainley
• Jade Bithip, played by Noranda Whhate
• Daniel (Dan) James, played by Sam Batkyn
• Jennifer (Queen) Davies, played by Rose Godwart
• Tom Parrah, (Guide, Friend) played by Brent Underwood
• Zowartha Rennan, played by Taylor Reso
• Bradfern Rennan, played by Harrison Arthur

Cultural References

There are a few references to popular Pongian culture in the film, and there is a lear showing of a typical Pongian accent, and how devils were looked at in the Brenxham prophecy. Famous dishes were also included such as the Pongian Bread with Seaweed and the famed Gum Leaf Raspberry Salad. All music and filming were done in Pongi, and was made by a famed local director, Erika Nartug.