Exam Revision

“Look Both Ways”
◦ Two ways of looking at life (life and death). One is
bleak and hopeless and the other is full of
opportunity and love.
◦ We need to look at both (can’t ignore one or the
other) for a full perspective
◦ Beware of the dangers which may confront you.



Set against a background of human suffering
Focuses on the struggle to cope with
relationships, tragedy, death, loneliness,
work, children and survival
Set in suburban Adelaide – workplaces,
homes, local hospital, cricket oval, nearby
shops, railway line – all these places connect
the community.


The film endeavours to imitate real life,
therefore characters and settings are realistic
Filming is focused on conversations and
human interactions



All characters are linked by the train accident
The focus is less on the accident itself, but
rather the ways that people cope in the
aftermath of the accident
References to the Arnow train derailment are
dispersed throughout the film and they form
the backdrop to the lives of the characters.



Much of the plot follows the lives and inner
thoughts of Meryl and Nick.
The animations illustrate Meryl’s
preoccupation with death (such as the sharks
which encircle her and the train which runs
her over).
Similarly, we experience Nick’s subjective
mind through photographic stills and we
watch as his life “flashes before his eyes”.


The film uses many ‘quick edits’ where the
viewer is presented with a large number of
associations to take in
Gives a sense of emotional confusion


Warning signs – (eg. ‘Warning – Danger
Carcinogen Designated Area, Authorised
Personnel Only’, ‘Cancer Hazard’, ‘Danger
High Voltage’, ‘Radioactive’ etc): suggests we
need to be wary in modern society to avoid
its many dangers.
Pigeons – (at times there is a group flying
together, groups parting ways, or a solitary
pigeon). A reminder that we require a sense
of community to live together effectively


Sharks and Killer Whales – to represent the
predators that lurk below the surface over
which we have little control/ but also the
unrealistic fears we have
The heat and the rain – to represent the
characters sweltering due to their emotional
turmoil and the rain providing a release.

Unmarried artist

Suffocating from the detritus of her life

Honest, introspective, empathetic

Worries about the potential for disaster to
strike



The juxtaposition of Meryl with Nick is designed
to highlight their similar preoccupation with
death
Nick asks Meryl: “Do you see it happening when
you look at me? Do you see death?” – neither
can see death in each other. Love can cast away
the preoccupation with death.
We can, however, identify with her. While she is a
complex character, she is familiar to us - living
the social and domestic dramas typical of
suburbia.



Comes to a realisation that everyone
experiences grief, yet there is hope through
love.
“My dad died two weeks ago. Why isn’t my
picture on the front of the paper? Why isn’t
everybody who loses somebody on the front
bloody page?”
“Everyone has to witness something ghastly
one day.”

A successful photographer who lives alone

Finds communication difficult


Feels isolated, confused with his new diagnosis
of cancer. Trying to contend with his own
mortality, rather than seeing death as something
“other”
Sees his life and his work in bleak terms:
“Poverty, war, natural disasters and then back to
the mini bar.”



His diagnosis prompts him to see life in fairly
grim terms:
The images in his mind show his preoccupations:
“Meat. Snip. Hearse. Roadside tribute. Cancer
boy who smiles.”…. “Montage of aneurism” etc
He also becomes curious about the concept of an
afterlife. He recalls his father saying: ‘I’m liking
the idea of the afterlife. I’m a Buddhist this
week’ and he asks Andy: ‘Do you believe in God?’

Divorced father who is angry and frustrated with
his life.

Exhibits a child-like egotism


Andy at Macbeth performance: ‘Life is but a
walking shadow.’ - signifies his dissatisfaction
with life.
Andy comes to look beyond his own troubles by
the end of the film – he sees Julia’s memorial and
her grief and he sees Nick’s predicament (‘What
have you got cancer for?’)



Single and pregnant
Continually reminded that she does not have
children of her own in her work in the
Emergency Department.
We often see Anna alone/ isolated.

The family man who is too busy at work to spend
time with his family

Shocked by Nick’s diagnosis, but cannot expresses
his feelings honestly and without bravado:
‘Christ, you only went for a travel medical’
‘Sorry’
‘Where you going? Which hospital? Get everyone to
chip in, hide some scotch in flowers or something.’

He is unable to look directly at Nick (indicating his
discomfort in dealing with serious matters).




His story is communicated without words
There is a sense of reconciliation/ acceptance
when he hands Julia the card at the end.
The card indicates that we don’t know what
will happen in the future, but we only have “a
light to guide the next footstep”. It is a
message for how to manage the trauma
which may confront us.


The film focuses on how we can confront
death on a personal level (through the
grieving of the main characters), but also how
we deal with suffering in the world ‘out there’
(eg. The Arnow Hill train wreck)
Death is not presented as heroic or dramatic,
rather as something more mundane.



Nick and Meryl are coming to terms with their
mortality.
Andy is presented as far more petulant – has not
come to terms with the inevitability of death. He
seems to have nothing to live for, yet no belief in
something beyond this life.
Nick’s mother is far more philosophical, despite her
own loss: “It doesn’t matter how he died. Your
father’s death was not the sum of his life. It doesn’t
matter how life ends, it matters how it was…
Everyone has to find a way to face their own death…
and love.”


Meryl approaches her father’s death
philosophically… “Oh no, it’s just the natural
order of things, isn’t it? Maybe it was meant
to be. He might have been a rapist axemurderer about to commit his first crime…”
There is a sense of the injustice of life (the
indigenous children saying “Maybe it was
meant to be”), but even when injustice is
perpetrated by others it has to be endured
and accepted.



The Arnow Hill train wreck which is the backdrop
to the film suggests that there is a randomness
to death that needs to be accepted
Anna says to Andy “You think everyone’s got an
agenda… Sometimes things just happen.”
Linda reads Meryl’s star sign “Cancer: Contrary to
usual belief, you do hold fate in your own hands”
– this seems to contradict everything we know.
The newspaper itself illustrates so much random
doom and gloom.



There are many images of the media and the
way that it presents an image of society for
our consumption
The world is a bleak place in the newspaper:
“I don’t need your stupid photos to keep
reminding me of all the shit in the world”
Many of Nick’s experiences include stills from
the media (eg. Website images of testicular
cancer)



We have become desensitised to the images
presented in the media. Eg. Anna and her
friends make light of the suffering the accident
has caused.
There are many images of the news playing to an
empty room – it is part of the backdrop to our
lives but seems to lack an emotional impact.
Even when Meryl and Nick make love, it is
interrupted with images of AIDS and unwanted
pregnancies.