In the film "Once Were Warriors," Lee Tamahori, director of the film, achieves the traditional-modern binary through the usage of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, and thus derives the plot to its end. Tamahori uses diegetic sound effects, such as wind/traditional song/hakka, to convey Beth's movement towards her culture, and also uses non-diegetic sound to conclude Beth's inner dilemma, as opposed to using dialogues to weigh both sides of traditional-modern binary. Therefore, through examination of these sounds, this essay will focus on how the plot is derived to the end, to where Beth and her children will keep their tradition while Jake remains trapped in his alienated urban existence. Tamahori uses diegetic sounds to emphasize tradition and thus allows Beth to make a smooth transition from the unstable and dangerous urbanized life to her culture. Tamahori conveys this transition with the usage of diegetic sounds “impl[ying] a visible onscreen source”1(pg.186), like how he uses sound bridge to carry “sound...over a visual transition,” (pg.187) to a woman singing a Maori traditional song from Beth's close up to the woman (through scenes 1.b) to 2.b). Followed by Boogie's classmates doing the Haka dance, it is evident that tradition dominates the modern society for everyone in the funeral. A short dialogue of "We've come home Grace, we're home" (scene 5) terminates the transition, as it conveys that Beth has turned completely away from her ignorant past. Therefore by using traditional sounds, Tamahori emphasizes the Maori culture and conveys to the viewers that Beth has now settled as a Maori. Modern binary is introduced with the scene where Jake and his friends are having a beer in a pub. Jake’s dialogue of “Am I never good enough?” at scene 12 expresses Jake’s low self-esteem, possibly coming from his background as a slave, and his follow up dialogue, of denying to an offer to visit Grace’s funeral, tells the