Beneath Clouds Essay Sample
Opening credits: Images of turn overing clouds. huge and huge. threatening and powerful. * Two female. high school pupils dressed in unvarying walk a waste landscape. The lone coloring material and motion comes from the trucks that roar through. Isolated. Aboriginal community. * Walk past an autochthonal adult male transporting a Kraut can of gasoline. Stereotyped image of dependence. Lena in a thick Australian speech pattern: “Whadda asshole. ” Clear from this duologue that her values are really different from the norm. * Close up of dead butterfly with creeping emmets. camera switches to shut up of Lena. Connection between the character and the butterfly is made – both are beautiful animals but neither are able to boom in such an environment.
Trapped. Besides points to the unforgiving landscape they inhabit. This brooding minute is interrupted by another ephemeral truck. * Young boy attacks. Smoking. expectoration and truanting ( all symbols of rebellion. or instead conformance in this topographic point ) . we learn that he is Lena’s younger brother. Lee. * Another truck passes – her regard follows. sense that Lena will non remain long in this topographic point. She will acquire out before she excessively becomes like the butterfly. * Friend pregnant. Lena: “You’re ne’er gon na acquire out of this shit hole Tye. you know that don’t’cha. ” She is neither aghast nor sympathetic. Her usage of profane linguistic communication confirms her attitude toward this topographic point. * Adolescent gesture for Tye to fall in him outside the service station and she leaves. Lena does non follow – this is declarative of the picks the misss will do for their lives. * Lena passes a immature female parent on her manner place.
* Begins to rain – hapless false belief. Lena witnesses her brother being led off by the constabulary. * The house: dilapidated and uncared for. reveals a household life of poorness and disadvantaged. * Enters house. Medium shooting of female parent at kitchen tabular array. with long cervix beer bottles environing her and in the background the Canis familiaris rushing dramas on the telecasting. proposing a place environment that is polluted with dependence. alcohol addiction. unemployment and gaming. Mother shows no concern for her son’s recent going. * Lena to Mother: “Look at you. you’re a bally shame. ” The malice in her tone is unmistakable.
Recognition that all life holds for her in this topographic point is gestation. offense and dependence.
* In her room. symbolism and iconography reveals those things that have the most influence upon her. The tidiness of the infinite juxtaposes the pandemonium of the remainder of the house. Crucifix on the wall. Shakespeare’s plays. exposure album under her bed ( a cherished. treasured and concealed thing ) contains a exposure of a just skinned adult male. Iconic postcard image of Sydney Harbour Bridge. and shut up of the signature. “love Dad. ” Understand her program to go as a consequence of these visuals entirely.
* Introduced to Vaughn. An angry. Aboriginal adolescent imprisoned in a juvenile detainment Centre. Cuting trees with the other detainees. but his carving of a ‘V’ into its bole indicates a more sensitive side. Despite claiming that he doesn’t care what happens to it. his behaviour demonstrates a soft side to his character. * Dressed in compulsory green tracksuit. Vaughn besides wears a goon ( the mirror image to Lena ) and in this. appears more baleful than the others. Responds sharply to another inmate. but there is the suggestion that there is something more to this young person that problem and force. * Extreme close up shooting of his face behind bars. Emphasis of his parturiency and entrapment. * Learns of his mother’s unwellness from his sing. pregnant sister. Their exchange is cool and devoid of emotion. Declares no understanding for his female parent. Quote? ? ? * In his cell: low angle shooting of 2Pac posting ( this is what he idolises ) . cannabis foliage in background of image. extreme close up of gun pendent on necklace. Symbolic of his influences. which contrast aggressively with Lena’s. * Photo of household under mattress. Again. his action mirrors Lena’s ( besides treasured and hidden. but kept secret in order to deny that softer side to his self. )
* Lena at gasoline station. Ill! Pregnant? ? ? Misses coach. Vaughn arrives ( stowaway in a milk bringing new wave ) – destiny? ? ? Possibly Lena would non hold continued on. but with him she feels more confident. * Wide shootings of the landscape – huge. beautiful. level. They are two little figures on the route. * Their physical separation ( Vaughn walks behind Lena ) and the usage of close up shootings of their faces. instead than looking together on screen points to their differences and disjunction at this phase. Yet. they are dressed likewise and dress uping has been used to connote that they will happen some common land as the movie continues. Not so different after all.
Road is symbolic of the journey toward self-discovery.
* The fact that Lena leads is symbolic of how much further along she is in her journey and how Vaughn will larn from her. * Car 1: racism of white adult female. representative of wider Australian impressions of race and peculiarly autochthonal people. * Wide shooting of Aboriginal work forces working in a field: Liter: “They look like a clump of sleep togethering slaves. ” Allusion to a bondage yesteryear and history. * Vaughn thinks Lena is white. and she allows for this error by declaring herself Irish to him. The half-caste issue. She denies her Aboriginality and in making so. a black connexion to Aboriginal ways is dramatis personae. She is taking to disregard that portion of her ego. * Male driver. besides autochthonal. Michigans for Vaughn merely because he is black. The ‘us’ and ‘them’ outlook is revealed once more. Mention to each other through their duologue as “cuz” and “brother” . Immediate affinity expressed through conversational linguistic communication. Diegetic sound comes from the wireless as the wordss “I wish I was back in the Dreamtime” filter out. * Cut to shut up shooting of dead cockatoo on the route side. White is declarative of artlessness and pureness. Another thing destroyed. * Car is pulled over by constabularies. Officer refers to the driver as ‘boy’ – a derogative term. denigration. take downing. An allusion to the African break one’s back term and contemplation of built-in racism. The generic rubric removes the individualism of the driver. An averment of power. * Police auto seen go forthing in rear position mirror ( possible nexus between forsaking of Australian authorities refering autochthonal issues ) .
* Lena sits in the back place. following to another immature. fair-skinned
Aboriginal adult female. She has a yearling on her lap. Again. that subject of gestation is raised and in response to the child’s calls. the driver turns and slaps her across the face. This scene seems to foreground the negative facets of Aboriginal civilization – that is. the subordination of adult females and prevalence of domestic force. * Liter: “Stop the screw car… I said. halt the screw auto. ” To the driver: “you’re an asshole. you know that. ” * She takes a base. perceptibly Vaughn and the miss herself do non. Quiet credence of such exchanges. When out of the auto Lena challenges him. and Vaughn answers: “None of my concern. ” A common attitude. * Disappointed by his response. the two portion momently. Until two leery looking. white work forces halt and offer Lena a lift. She declines but they attack her. effort to catch her bag and draw her into the auto. Camera rapid climbs in on Vaughn’s face and he runs in her way. Saves the twenty-four hours. * The two are bound together by this experience and for the first clip of all time. they are captured in the same mid-shot. Camera switches to a high angle shooting of both in the left manus foreground. the route and their gaze Acts of the Apostless as a vector toward the hereafter – the journey they are on together. now as peers. For the first clip. they are empowered by the shooting.
* Their initial belligerencies begin to disperse. Some confiding takes topographic point. Vaughn negotiations about prison and Lena is non impressed by this. Lena: “You’re blowing your life. . You’ll ne’er win… You’re a sleep togethering also-ran. ” * She is unsympathetic and blunt – traits normally associated with Australians. But these inquiries challenge Vaughn and through so he is encouraged to believe more pensively about his life. the way it is taking and his function in his hereafter. * In the corn field. Lena happens upon a black cat with piercing green eyes. It is an uneven scene and the cat seems unnaturally out of topographic point in the environment. Mirrors Lena’s ain experience. * Caught stealing the harvests and the dialoge that is exchanged between Vaughn and the husbandman is peculiarly heated. Witness the leaning for Vaughn to follow an aggressive and contentious stance. Racial tenseness is one time once more celebrated.
F: “Get out of here you black asshole. ”
Volt: “Whad’ya say. whad’ya sleep togethering state? ”
F: “You remain off my land. you small shit. ”
Volt: “Your land? This ain’t your land. You stole this screw land and don’t you sleep togethering bury it. sleep togethering asshole. ”
F: “Go on. acquire out of here. ”
Volt: “Ahhh. fuck you” ( gives the finger. defiant. confrontational )
Allusion to the yesteryear once more. Lena blankly: “Whadda think you’re making? ”
Relationship! Vaughn is stereotyped and Lena is non. She encourages him to oppugn the picks he has made in his life.
She looks toward the hereafter. whilst he dwells more on the past unfairnesss and uses these as an alibi for his current state of affairs.
* Close up of grass swaying. clouds in sky. telegraph poles and span. The natural versus the adult male made. * Close up shooting of Lena’s Claddagh ring. Symbolic of her connexion to Irish heritage. An outward mark of her individuality. * Dialogue reveals their differing attitudes towards work. Lena has hope and a work ethic. whereas Vaughn is relatively defeated and disinterested. In response to her end to go a author. he says: “Too sleep togethering difficult. All them words and crap. ” Again. Vaughn conforms to stereotyped word pictures of autochthonal people as lazy. ill educated and unwilling to come in the work force. * The exposure of Lena’s male parent prompts a conversation between the two sing the sacred sites of white people. This is rather an of import scene. peculiarly for Vaughn who had ne’er thought about such things before. Issues of land ownership. cultural diminution and race dealingss are raised. Vaughn employs the metaphor. “the war’s non over” to show how Aboriginal people will contend back to recover the land that has been lost to them.
* Close up of dead fox hanging over station at side of route. the camera pans as the teens walk past it. Both look on in silence. This is the 3rd image like this and the animate beings have grown in size each clip. More grotesque and inhumane deceases depicted each clip. The cockatoo and the fox are both really unnatural images – they have been destroyed and desecrated by the intercession of adult male. Possibly there is the suggestion that Australia has been destroyed to a grade by the white man’s ways. * Take shelter from the rain inside a church. Sacred topographic point? Prompts a theological treatment. Volt: “If there is a God. he wouldn’t give two craps about me… No 1 does. ” This is a minute in which the spectator may sympathize with Vaughn. * They light a fire – a campfire in a church. Juxtaposition. Contrast. The autochthonal and the European in harmonious brotherhood – suggestion that there is possible for a more peaceable hereafter.
* Outside saloon: Vaughn is captivated by a visible radiation. aureate colored Equus caballus. High angle shooting of its caput and one dark brown oculus behind bars as Vaughn looks up at it. It is a similar narrative for male child and animate being. and the image is a perennial scenario of Lena’s experience in the corn field. * Close up shooting of truck gestural reads: “Country Meats” and it becomes evident that the animate being will be destroyed. Again. this serves as an analogy for Vaughn’s ain life. as he excessively may venture down the route toward suicide. A sad world for the Equus caballus. but Vaughn’s has the power to command his destiny. * In the saloon Lena is heartily welcomed by the barman and approached by a immature adult male named ‘Sean’ ( an Irish name ) . None of the work forces in the saloon observe her Aboriginal heritage. as made evident through their changed reaction to Vaughn as he enters.
Again. the term ‘boy’ is employed by the barman. Medium shootings of the other frequenters eying him sceptically. and shut up shootings of Vaughn’s reaction to this. His choler is turning once more. * Leaves enraged and goes to throw a stone at one of the autos parked outside. * Lena: “Vaughn. Vaughn. What do you believe ya’ doin? ” Her usual blunt tone and unimpressed facial look is captured in a stopping point up shooting. * He has been made to experience inferior by the other work forces in the saloon ( something he hates ) and significantly. Lena’s speaking to Sean has stirred feelings of green-eyed monster in him. She says: “I was merely seeking to acquire us a lift” . and it is the “us” that Vaughn picks up on in his returning duologue. At this. he drops the stone and that action is a symbolic gesture which implies that he is ready to take a different way ; one other than force and hooliganism.
* An older. white adult male who was at the saloon offers the two a lift. Well dressed and the extreme close up of the Mercedes badge on his auto symbolizes his wealth. * Non-diegetic music plays – it is the same composure. yet stalking. instrumental tune that plays in a figure of scenes. Lena looks from the exposure of her male parent. to the scenery outside. Fog rolls over the green landscape outside and mirrors the same dazed scene captured in the exposure. Different but same – possibly she will happen her individuality in this topographic point after all. Her shutting of the album is a symbolic gesture that indicates her preparedness to portion with the yesteryear. and travel frontward independently. Ready to have up to her Aboriginality now. * Lena and Vaughn both autumn asleep. The auto is a safe environment for them. The lift is a sort gesture and though no duologue between driver and riders is exchanged at its decision. the silence and the smilings that Vaughn and the adult male give one another reflect the potency for mending. But that will merely go on if both black and white alteration the ways they interact. * This adult male is reasonably much the lone nice white individual in the whole movie
* Continue walking along the route. Wide and high angle shootings capture the awesomeness of their mountain milieus. The diverseness of the landscape is revealed. * Vaughn ( looking up at the mountain ) : “It’s reasonably. hey? ” Lena does non answer and though Vaughn portions his grandfather’s narrative about the topographic point. ( the white work forces marched the black work forces to the top of the drop precipice. so changeable so and pushed them over the border ) Lena still does non acknowledge to her heritage.
* Car trip with Vaughn’s friends. Quiet. older adult female in back. Second submissive female. Looks up at the mountain. non-diegetic music dramas once more and the camera cuts to the route in front. panning to demo a mill admist the shrub puting. Pollution of the natural environment and apposition with the natural beauty and admiration of the bouldery mountain face. Invasion of the land. * The male childs in the auto are tattooed and have piercings. one wears an oculus spot and all look unkempt. They are evidently unemployed and one has a gun in his ownership. Symbols of rebellion. offense and force. Know that they are come ining a corrupt and violent universe. The 2Pac image is realised and viewing audiences begin to understand the pull of those factors which have influenced Vaughn and led to his current state of affairs. * Tracking image of power lines against bush scenery. Same as above. * Lady to Lena: “Where your people from miss? ”
Finally. Vaughn is made cognizant of her true lineage. It is rather important that the lone individual to hold detected her race is an senior – all the other Aboriginal characters wholly miss it. * Police Sirens sound and the auto attacks in the rear position mirror. Drugs are thrown from the auto – innuendo of dependence one time more. * Scene with constabulary: both are masticating gum and the action seems disrespectful. The term ‘boy’ is once more employed and the tenseness between the races erupts in violent difference. Angry black work forces versus chesty white work forces in a place of power. The adult females don’t move. And the first Acts of the Apostless of force are white on black. * Vaughn is hit and at this. Lena stairss from the auto and picks up the constabulary wand. The officer pauses for this white miss and Vaughn strikes him. Violence becomes black on white.
* They leave the scene of the offense: Friends discuss “getting out of here” . Driver to Vaughn: “You coming? ” Look exchanged between Lena and Vaughn. * Vaughn’s answer: “Drop me home” is a really powerful one. Marks the minute of alteration for him and the spectator knows now that he will take a different way for his hereafter. * Blood on his face – a grade that he does non seek to pass over off. Credence of his stained yesteryear. possibly? ? ?
* At place: hushed Television image of white and black adult females in combat – a game. What does this state about the races and the sexes? ? ? * Bedroom: blood stained sheets and O armored combat vehicle. Bespeaking marks of mother’s decease. Extreme close up shooting of clotted blood on sheet. gross! * Lena touches Vaughn’s shoulder in an attempt to soothe him. Vaughn: “Don’t touch me. I said don’t screw touch me. ” Anger flairs and he can’t accept her offer of support – excessively hardened by life experiences. Lena leaves. * Shots cut between Vaughn in the room and Lena outdoors. Separated once more. * Extreme shut up of Vaughn as he looks at a framed exposure of him. his female parent and sister. It is the same image he carried earlier. Shattered glass of the frame symbolizes the fractured household unit. * The fact that the female parent had the image by her bed though. price reductions Vaughn’s earlier averments that she “didn’t give a crap. ” * Catches his contemplation in the chest of drawers mirror. Throws an object at it and it shatters. He literally can non stand to look at himself. This is another symbolic image. The contemplation disappears after Vaughn himself takes action to destruct it. This symbolises the disappearing of the ‘old Vaughn’ and acknowledges the function that Vaughn himself will play in the formation of a new ego.
* Diegetic constabulary Sirens sound in the background and jar Vaughn to action. Non-diegetic music intensifies as Vaughn walks outdoors. Cuts to Lena. so back to Vaughn once more. “Oh. fuck” and he runs in the opposite way of the approaching Sirens. Cuts to Lena as she approaches the train station. and back once more to Vaughn who runs. dodges a constabulary auto and legs it. * The two meet on the train platform and a medium shooting captures them standing in forepart of the broad. unfastened passenger car doors. Diegetic sounds of the proclamation system convey that impending going of the train. Both look to the doors. and so back to one another. No verbal communicating is shared. Choice is apparent. Gain that Vaughn will stay behind and confront up to his wrongs – capable of having his errors and accepting the effects of his actions now. A different and brighter hereafter awaits him. but it can non happen until he pays his dues.
* They embrace. Extreme close up shooting of Vaughn’s face catches a individual tear. Lena boards the train. * Out train window – mills and warehouses. Cuts to Lena standing in the moving passenger car and the camera zooms to demo her weeping every bit good. She excessively has been changed by their meeting. Both have been moved and transformed by their brief. but of import relationship. Through it. they have discovered more about themselves and their topographic point in the universe ( or Australia ) . * End shooting: camera pans upward from the train paths to the sky and settees in a bird’s oculus position. The paths serve as vectors that lead the oculus to the skyline beyond. in which the iconic Sydney skyline is apparent. We know that Lena will finish her journey to Sydney. but there is the sense that she will non seek out her male parent. Choosing alternatively to carve her ain way.
