By Laura BennettWednesday 17 Aug 2022Hope AfternoonsMoviesReading Time: 3 minutes
Like it or not, every one of us has been shaped by the parenting we experienced growing up. We may rebel against it, appreciate it or still be dealing with trauma it inflicted, but who we are today is undeniably linked to the teaching of our parents or guardians.
As adults we may recoil at the mistakes of our parents but for those who are now parents, there’s a realisation of the responsibility you carry and the grace you may need to extend to those who raised you.
Based on the life of its writer and director Tyler Atkins, Australian drama Bosch and Rockit is a story about unconscious parenting told through the lens of teenage boy Rockit (Rasmus King), who is dealing with the absence of his mother and the unreliability of his father, Bosch (Luke Hemsworth) – a man who is running from the law under the guise of a family holiday.
“It’s a very personal story for me,” Tyler told Hope 103.2.
“I finally got to a place in my life that I wanted to share it, in the hopes that it may inspire and force us to ask questions about parenting and what our choices are doing to those around us.”
Filmed in Byron Bay during the pandemic, Bosch and Rockit isn’t an easy watch as it shows how the mistakes of the father affect the son, with Rockit hardening himself to survive the situations his parents expose him to.
“Bosch was just trying to get out of where he was at,” Tyler said.
“He made a few bad choices and there were huge repercussions for those choices.
“[Kids] do not miss a beat.”
Aware of what he took on from his own parents’ example, Tyler said, “When you grow up in an environment where your core relationship to your parents is unstable and you’re on a knife’s edge – when people do drugs and alcohol in families – [later] when you go out into the world, until you can really heal that…”.
“I was the same. I was never stable in a relationship because I wasn’t stable in myself.”
As a conduit for discussions about parenting, Tyler hopes Bosch and Rockit “promotes healing and conversation”.
As a conduit for discussions about parenting, writer and director Tyler Atkins hopes Bosch and Rockit “promotes healing and conversation”.
“You can’t blame people for what they do,” he said.
“We make one bad choice, and it can change our lives for the worse – or for the better.”
What all of us need to learn, is the difficult skill of forgiveness which “is really hard”, Tyler said.
“Because it requires two parties to really give forward: forgiveness is giving forward, it’s letting go.
“None of us are saying we’re perfect, but [in our] human condition we hold onto things so tight and it becomes so heavy and so toxic.”
After watching Bosch and Rockit, Tyler said, as a father of two daughters, “I really hope that we can start talking about parenting and what our actions are doing to everyone on the planet”.
“I really like talking about that, and challenging myself on that: what are my words doing? How does that affect you or my communities?
“There’s so much hate around on our planet, and violence, and I don’t want any part of that.
“Maybe we can change ourselves which, ultimately, does change the world.”
“I really like talking about that, and challenging myself on that: what are my words doing? How does that affect you or my communities?” Bosch and Rockit director Tyler Atkins
Bosch and Rockit is in cinemas August 18, rated MA15+. It comes with a language warning and includes mature themes about drug use and criminality.
Listen to Tyler Atkins’ full interview with Laura Bennett in the player above.
Feature image: Bosch and Rockit Facebook / Director Tyler Atkins with actor Rasmus King, who plays Rockit