An epic journey through the Outback
‘Australia’ starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman
There are two groups of people who will see the epic film
”
Australia
”
– those who know Baz Luhrmann and those who don’t.
For those who don’t, Luhrmann is the frenetic director behind
2001’s
”
Moulin Rouge,
”
a fairytale musical that incorporated modern-day songs into its
story line. He is also the man who created
”
Romeo and Juliet,
”
the one starring Claire Dane and Leonardo DiCaprio, and set in
Mexico City. Even in one of his earliest films
”
Strictly Ballroom,
”
a story all about the seedy underbelly of the ballroom world,
Luhrmann creates a garish and loud world that is almost too over
the top. Almost, but not quite.
An epic journey through the Outback
‘Australia’ starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman
There are two groups of people who will see the epic film “Australia” – those who know Baz Luhrmann and those who don’t.
For those who don’t, Luhrmann is the frenetic director behind 2001’s “Moulin Rouge,” a fairytale musical that incorporated modern-day songs into its story line. He is also the man who created “Romeo and Juliet,” the one starring Claire Dane and Leonardo DiCaprio, and set in Mexico City. Even in one of his earliest films “Strictly Ballroom,” a story all about the seedy underbelly of the ballroom world, Luhrmann creates a garish and loud world that is almost too over the top. Almost, but not quite.
But for those who go into the theater to see “Australia” expecting the spectacle that most Luhrmann films turn out to be, they will be surprised with the low-key turn he takes with his latest movie. “Australia” is as much an homage to his homeland as it is a reprimand of its flawed history. And Luhrmann couldn’t have chosen two more appropriate actors for his tribute than Nicole Kidman, who was raised in Australia, and Hugh Jackman, who is a native.
The two major motion picture stars are supported by an array of Australian actors, including the young Brandon Walters who plays a central character and narrates the film. Playing Nullah, Walters encompasses the pain of a generation of mixed-Ethnicity children – part Aborigine, part white settler – who were forceably taken from their mothers in the name of reeducation. “Rabbit-Proof Fence,” directed by Phillip Noyce and released in 2002, deals with the same topic in a much more somber way. The children were taken from their homes and sent to missions where they were taught “white” ways of living. The government-sanctioned practice continued until 1973.
Nullah starts off the story as one of these children. He had been walking with his grandfather, King George (David Gulpilil – he was in 1971’s “Walkabout”), a medicine man. The boy runs to hide in a water tank when he and his grandfather see some white men by the river. That is where he is hiding the first time he spots Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman). Nullah’s grandfather believes the boy has some magic, and the boy recognizes Ashley as someone who can change their lives.
In the late 1930s, Ashley, a woman of the British aristocracy has tired of waiting for her husband to return from Down Under. He has been away running a cattle ranch in a place called Faraway Downs, but she suspects he has been spending more time with native women than with the livestock. She first meets Drover (Hugh Jackman) when he is involved in a brawl at a bar in Darwin, a town along the Northern coast of the continent. He is the man her husband has hired to drive her to Faraway Downs, and at first the two have little to say to each other.
When they arrive at the distant ranch – it looks to be in the middle of a very dry desert – she is shocked to find that her husband has been killed by a spear, presumed to be at the hand of an Aborigine. She quickly makes plans to bury her husband, sell off the land and return to England. But fate intervenes and her plans get waylaid. When she fires the ranch manager (David Wenham) for his bad treatment of the Aborigines working at the ranch, he stalks off with all the ranch hands and lets the cattle loose.
The first half of the movie is focused on a long cattle drive to save the company. And of course Neil Fletcher (Wenham) is out to get Drover and Ashley the whole time. When they are successful, Drover, Ashley and Nullah get to play the happy family for a short time. But all that changes when Nullah’s grandfather beckons him to go walkabout. Suddnely the family is divided and the country is on the brink of war. All along in the film, there are mentions of the international war – World War II. And eventually it becomes clear that Australia, with its proximity to Japan, would be an easy target. The war brings everything to a head, and offers somewhat of a conclusion for Luhrmann. The movie’s running time is 165 min. and while that is on the long side, the movie never feels like it is dragging.
For Luhrmann’s attempt to play it straight, he does a decent job.
Some of the characters seem a little unbelievable, such as Nullah with his magic and his songs, but compared to other Luhrmann movies this one sits tightly in the realm of realism.
