Look Both Ways show Characters in crisis who are dealing with real and imagined fears. Discuss
Look Both Ways is an Australian film written by Sarah Watt, which is said to show
its characters in crisis who are dealing with real and imagined fear throughout the film.
This is very true and by using three key characters Nick, Meryl and the train accident
at Arnow Hills’s we can understand how these elements are presented throughout the film.
Beginning with Nick a Photojournalist who at the start of the film finds out that he has
testicle cancer and spends the rest of the film trying to come to terms with his life threatening
problem while still living his life, the way he normally did. Nick fears death. A very common fear
that many of us share, he fears to what will happen to him if the cancer is successful. In the film
this fear for his life is shown throughout montages and also the way he communicates with people
and how he starts to see death and its meaning. For example how he reacts when he finds out
Meryl’s father passed away, or the way he argues with his mother about his father who had also
passed away. Nick’s story is a great example of a person going through a crisis in his case cancer
which many people deal with in today’s world and having a real fear of death and not living a long lived life.
Our second great example is Meryl who is an artist who is struggling in her career. In the beginning
of the film Meryl is shown in deep thought and we later on find out that she has recently lost her
father and is returning from her parent’s home. Throughout the film Meryl imagines herself in a disaster
at every turn. These disasters are shown in animations few examples are the car accident, shark attack
and getting shot by a stranger. Meryl even thought has no life threatening illness unlike Nick, spends
just as much of her thoughts thinking of the worst case scenario death. This fear of death is very
important in the mutual bond that Nick and Meryl share throughout the film.
Another great example is the train accident at Arnow Hill’s, which is a very good example of the day
to day tragedies we face and which brings fear to our thoughts. This accident is shown on the news
through the film. This tragedy had taken more than a dozen lives and nearly every character of is shown
at one stage is watching or listening to the news being read and the story of the train accident in
Arnow Hill’s being told. In the end of the film set on Sunday the positive side of this tragedy is shown,
when a young girl is found alive found in the rubble of the accident.
It’s correct to state that Look Both Ways characters during the film do go through a crisis and deal with
real and imaginary fears. Nick who has a real fear for death and Meryl who has an imaginary fear of death,
also the train accident which affects all characters in one way or another it might have not personally affected
them but like all of us during our lives these tragedies do face us, and it sparks fear in us one way or another.
Home
Help
Search
Login
