Australia

Australia

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann

Starring: Nicole Kidman

Genre: Action-Adventure/ Western

Run Time: 165 min.

Release Date: November 2008

On The Web: Official Site

Teaser: Movie Trailer

Reviewed by Byron Merritt

More bothersome than anything about AUSTRALIA is that it is both mislabeled as a romantic epic and that it seems to try and lead the audience in too many artistic directions. While viewing the trailers for it, I assumed it was another Baz Luhrmann visual-fest (if you’ve seen MOULIN ROUGE you know exactly what I’m talking about).

But from the get-go, I got the sense that Luhrmann was trying more to get across a sense of Australia’s forgotten history than to entertain us. But then, as the film progressed, the gears of this behemoth began spinning in all different directions at different times. Clocking in at 165 minutes and costing over $130 million, Australia seemed (on the outside) to be headed toward the epic category.

The good is that the film (just barely) holds together. Much of that is thanks to Luhrmann who, although he had a tenuous grip on it, delivered an entertaining mesh. The over-the-top acting, line-deliveries, and color schemes are all what we’ve come to expect from this dynamic director, too.

Beginning with the life of an aboriginal half-breed named Nullah (relative unknown Brandon Walters), we initially seem to be headed toward the historical drama fold. Similar in tone to another excellent film you might want to check out entitled RABBIT-PROOF FENCE, we are given some background on “the lost generation” of aborigines who were stolen from their parents and put in “white homes”. But then the story switches to that of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman, THE GOLDEN COMPASS), an English woman of noble right who comes looking for her supposedly cheating husband in the back-country of Australia at their ranch known as Faraway Downs. When she arrives, she quickly meets up with the ruggedly handsome and ruggedly tough Drover (Hugh Jackman, THE FOUNTAIN) who guides her to Faraway Downs only to discover that her husband has been murdered, the ranch on the verge of collapse, and a group of aborigines hiding in fear of the local constabulary (among them is Nullah). The “I-despise-you-but-eventually-fall-in-love-with-you” story will not surprise anyone. And seeing Jackman and Kidman together is pretty easy on the eyes. But then a new wheel finds a cog and we’re thrust into the middle of WW II. Oh. And did I mention that Nullah’s grandfather is a medicine man and wants Nullah to follow in his footsteps? And that the main antagonist in the film is Nullah’s white father? And that a businessman in the area wants to steal Faraway Downs from Lady Ashley? And all of this happens during a cattle drive? Whoa!

To be even more brutally honest, there are a host of other things going on, too, which further muddies the waters. The astonishing thing, though, is that the film remains entertaining despite all of these threads. Kidman and Jackman’s chemistry is very believable. And young Brandon Walters delivers an endearing role as the lost half-breed. The scenery, too, is astounding, with rich color sequences that follow sepia tones.

It could’ve been better by settling on a few less plot threads. But it is what it is. And I’m glad I watched it. But if you want a true history lesson on “the lost generation” in Australia, pick up Rabbit-Proof Fence.