Two Hands 1999

Jimmy Heath Ledger is a nineteen-year-old living in a rundown block of units in the inner suburbs of Sydney. He makes ends meet by working as a barker outside a Kings Cross strip club, alongside his friend Les Kiri Paramore as Les, and by taking part in underground boxing matches. Yet his real dream is to follow in the footsteps of his deceased older brother, Michael, into the criminal orbit led by the charismatic, ruthless mob boss, Pando Bryan Brown.

One night, while on duty outside the club, Jimmy is approached by Pando with a job, and Jimmy eagerly accepts. That same night he is introduced to Alex Rose Byrne, the sister of another friend, Rocket Mathew Wilkinson, who is visiting Sydney from the country, and she forms an immediate connection with him.

The next day, Pando gives Jimmy $10,000 to deliver to a woman in Bondi, but she isn’t home. Jimmy waits nearby at Bondi Beach, hoping for a sign of life in the heat. The combination of sun, salt air, and heat draws him toward the water, and he takes a swim. While he’s submerged in the sweltering moment, he buries the envelope in the sand, unaware that two street kids—Pete Evan Sheaves and Helen Mariel McClorey—have been watching. When Jimmy resurfaces, he discovers they’ve stolen the money, leaving him deeply indebted to the furious Pando and his gang. Pete and Helen celebrate their theft and begin spending the stolen cash.

Chaos compounds when the Ford Falcon Jimmy had been using—owned by Acko David Field, a gang associate—gets stolen and traced to a mechanic who is a friend of Acko. The mechanic’s suspicions draw Acko into the search, and on the way to recover the car, Acko’s vehicle collides with and kills Pete. Helen watches in horror as Acko casually drags Pete’s body into the gutter and drives off, the loss of life treated as an inconvenience rather than a tragedy.

Desperate, Jimmy reaches out to Deirdre Susie Porter, a figure who moves between suburban life and the criminal underworld, arranging various jobs across Sydney. It’s hinted she once had a relationship with Jimmy’s brother. Jimmy begs for a way to settle his debt and is pulled into Deirdre’s plan: he’s set up for a bank robbery in Bankstown the next day, alongside two others—leader Wozza and getaway driver Craig.

Meanwhile, Alex stays at Rocket’s unit, and Les comes by with awkward flirtations of his own. When Alex receives a call from Jimmy, the pair decide to meet at a pub near Chinatown. Les overhears the plan and, feeling left out, tries to get in with Pando’s gang himself.

After Les informs the gang of Jimmy and Alex’s whereabouts, Jimmy must flee the pub with Alex, attempting a getaway on the Sydney Monorail. The escape fails, and in front of a terrified Alex, Jimmy is beaten and hauled away to a remote location where Pando and his gang plan to kill him. The moment is jolting for Jimmy, who learns that Pando and his crew were responsible for his brother Michael’s death, hinted at by Acko’s casual reference to their location. In a spectral moment, Michael appears as a guardian angel, nudging Jimmy toward a reprieve and a chance to return home to prepare for the bank robbery.

The robbery itself is fraught with complications. Returning with the bags of cash, Wozza attempts a dramatic jump over the bank counter, ends up unconscious on the floor, and is dragged into the getaway car just as the police open fire. Craig is killed, but the robbery mostly succeeds. Jimmy escapes in a stolen Toyota Celica, the chase by a radio-station prize team intensifying until he rams them off the road to avoid identification.

Back at Pando’s office, Jimmy settles his debt with the $10,000, and Pando, impressed by his resolve, offers more work. Jimmy refuses, pulling a gun on Pando and walking away from the criminal life for good. In a final, brutal twist, Helen—the street kid—passes Jimmy, and in retaliation for Pete’s death, shoots Pando, Acko, and the remaining gang members dead, before taking the $10,000 for herself. With the weight of the past behind him, Jimmy and Alex buy tickets at the airport to head to “The North Coast”, seeking a life far removed from Sydney’s pressures. The journey ends on their terms, hopeful and wary of what lies ahead.