Summary Of The Film 'Look Both Ways'

Look both ways shows us that tragedy is a part of life. To what extent do you think this is true?
The Australian film “Look both ways” directed by Sarah watt explores many enduring aspects of the human situation and examines the changes that can potentially occur during the course of one’s daily life. The film treats a range of issue of practical, emotional and psychological as well as our different characters in changing life situations can impinge upon other characters both in a positive and negative way. The film is delivering with engaging human sensitivity and a unique sense of Australian humour. While searching for a successful and meaningful life, we are faced with unexpected tragedies which may stray us from our path. There are drawbacks either already embody tragedy or potentially could lead to tragedy thus it emerges
that tragedy plays a large point of the film “Look both ways” because of this we understand that “tragedy is a part of life”.
The tragedy of being diagnose with a potentially terminal disease struck Nick off guard, “So what are my chances?”. Cancer affects a lot of people and not just those who suffer from illnesses. During the course of the film, after being diagnose with the disease, Nick attempts to set up a barrier between himself and those around him. Although, of course this affect the people around Nick in a different way which is equally bad. Nick tried to hide it from his mother since she has already been through the same situation with his father. Although the film’s timeline was set a year after his father as past away, Sarah Watt’s filming techniques, of Nick’s flashbacks to when his father was at his last stage of cancer shows us the reason why Nick was hesitant to inform his mother of his diagnosis.
Death is another tragedy which comes with the same impact no matter if it is expected or unexpected. The death of Meryl’s father is another example which pin point the fact that tragedy is a part of life. This unexpected death caught Meryl off guard since the last time they had a talk it did not end very well, “It wasn’t nice the last time we spoke”. As well as Rob’s accident with the trains caught Julia off guard. They both dealt with losing a love one very differently, although we understand that there are various ways which people deals with these tragedies. Sarah Watt’s filming technique comes into play again when viewers are allowed to see the tragedy through Nick’s camera. The camera points at Julia catching her at a state of shock and disbelief that her partner has been involved in the accident.
On the other hand, the train driver has to deal with mental tragedy of guilt even though the momentum of the train was too great and it was inevitable that the collision was going to occur.
Through the tragedy that his father experienced, we could see the changes in the train driver’s son. This tragedy brought the 2 characters together and shares the pain of an unexpected event. Although Sarah Watt did not give either of the characters any dialogue, we could see that there was a connection between the two which does not need words to explain.
It can be seen from the foregoing discussion that various aspects of tragedy consume a large part of the film. However, there are also many examples of positive resolution and optimism in the film. One of this is Nick’s remission from cancer shown in the montages at the end of the film. We see Nick and Meryl being together which implied that Meryl’s panic attacks have diminished resulting in the two living happily together. Julia also comes to find closure in making Rob a memorial cross in his shed with his tools. This shows that once these tragedies have been confronted, the path for solutions
begins.
Look both ways portrays various tragedies but it is also a memorable iconic masterpiece because it is a mélange of so many complex interwoven themes. One of which is the exploration of various facets of tragedy, yet it also deals with optimism, humour and resolution of life issues.