大象传媒

The theme is introduced as a 'father and son story'. We are shown that the child does not fully understand the adult world of the father through the misunderstanding of mining terminology, such as 'coal face', by the young boy. The clip cuts back to the short story where the father tells the mother of John Island's death and they kiss with an air of desperation. This leads to commentary from the author who wanted the kiss to portray adult relationships that are tinged with sorrow. He comments that they stay together in adversity, and the difficulty the child has in understanding this. The next excerpt depicts the father and son going down the mine and the author describes his own personal experience of going down the mine with his father as being a 'rite of passage'.