Australia
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, David Wenham
Dir: Baz Luhrmann
Rating: 3/5
Whenever a Baz Luhrmann releases a movie it’s always an event and something that you must see, and Australia is no different.
Luhrmann reunites with Moulin Rouge actress Nicole Kidman, as well as bringing fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman in board, which is a nice change of pace for the Wolverine actor, as the filmmaker mixes genres to try and produce a modern day sweeping epic.
Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) is a prim and proper Englishwoman who journeys to Australia in the years before World War II reached the country's shores.
She is determined to have her estranged husband sell his cattle ranch to a monopoly-craving businessman named King Carney (Bryan Brown), but when she arrives, Lord Ashley is dead, and her plan to sell the ranch changes when she sees an employee named Fletcher (David Wenham) cheating her husband's business and mistreating a young boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters) because he is of mixed race.
Urged on by both pride and a sense of justice, Lady Ashley wants to drive her herd of cattle to Darwin so she can sell them to the troops, but she'll require the help of an independent drover (Hugh Jackman) to get them there.
Luhrmann’s ideas and imagination just spills onto the screen and, at times, it seems that he has had difficulties in reigning it in and keeping it under control.
The main problem is there number of genres that the filmmaker tries to cram into the two hours forty five minutes, yes settle down in a comfy chair it’s a long watch, as Australia moves from comedy to western to love story to war picture and at times, in term of plot, it can just be a bit much.
Despite this it really is a great watch, look past the first half hour as Nicole Kidman struggles to get to grips with the character and accent but she really does settle into it nicely.
But this movie has great heart and it really is beautiful, the photography and cinematography are simply stunning showing off the country in a great light.
Australia is fiery and passionate never resting for a second and, despite it rather lengthy running time, it’s quickly paced and whizzes by.
The really is very good Hugh Jackman is convincing as the brooding drover, hiding from his past Kidman less so as the passion, drive, desire and anger that should be present in this woman as the film progresses she doesn’t always convey in a convincing manner, but having said that it’s a decent enough performance.
However it is Brandon Walters that is the great revelation here as he takes on the part of the young Nuallah, a young Aboriginal boy whom Lady Sarah Ashley finds at Faraway Downs, and he puts in a great performance as a young boy who is torn between his desire for a family and his Aboriginal traditions.
Ok so Australia may not be in the same league as Gone With the Wind when it comes to the epic sweeping classic but it’s a well shot, well acted movie that is well worth a watch.
Australia is out on DVD now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Baz Luhrmann