Walkabout

In the short clip of the movie 'Walkabout' by Nicolas Roeg made in 1971, images of brickwalls, barriers and fences can be seen thorughout. These scenes depict a sense of seperation and being closed off from the world. The director is trying to show how the city isolates people from nature. The close up shots of people often did not show faces rather just their legs. This technique was used to symbolise how impersonal and indirect the inhabitants of the city become. The huge masses are faceless and a strong sense of anonymity is depicted throughout. In the classroom scenes the students all look identical and immaculately dressed. Their automated movements allow for no personality or individuality. The use of buildings and sky scrapers represents how big and detached the city is. When the shots of the father are shown, he is portrayed as very insignificant and meager in comparison to the looming dimensions above. There is few shots of nature shown but the ones we do see, although beautiful, seem to marked by mankind and civilisation. This just shows how superficial the western world is and how nothing is truly natural anymore. The scene where the father and mother are in the house gives an insight into how hollow and bleak the relationship is. A lack of communication can also be read from the scene.