Australia

Release Date: 11.26.08



In one word: Magical

"Would you like to hear a story? It's about a magical land called Oz."


Director Baz Luhrmann, absent from Hollywood for near a decade, brings new flavor to this classic story from old Hollywood favorites such as "Gone with the Wind", "Giant", "From Here to Eternity", and one of my personal favorites "Out of Africa", while adding sickeningly sweet doses of "The Wizard of Oz". The sweeping majestic shots of a land time forgot enraptures the audience, forgetting they are in a theatre and not on the plains themselves. However, the film felt a bit cartoonish at times, with Indiana Jones-like flight-trail maps and a less-than-epic narration by a "half-caste" child, Nullah. The dangerous and enigmatic world doesn't present the same fervor when seen through children's eyes.

But don't dismay, "Australia" is a captivating story of cattle rustlers in Darwin, Northern Territory during World War II. The English Lady Ashley (Aussie-born Nicole Kidman) has come to the land of Oz with the intention of finishing her husband's plans for selling their remaining cattle to the military, and finally the ranch of Faraway Downs to the monopolizing force of Carney Cattle Company. A sweeping love affair between Lady Ashley and the aptly-named Drover (Hugh Jackman) ensues amidst a backdrop of sleazy cattle ranchers trying to swindle the Brit from her lands. The chemistry between the two is undeniable. Nullah (Brandon Walters) is a "Creamy" boy living on the Faraway Downs hiding from "tha coppers" who round up the half-castes and whisk them away to a mission with the hopes of purging their souls of their sinful aboriginal ways. Even though he is a boy who "belongs to no one" living in the mystical ancient world of music and dreams, an endearing mother-son bond inevitably forms between Lady Ashley and Nullah as both struggle with Nullah's destiny. And it is music that serves as the undertone of the film, supplying the preternatural connection of love and redemption with sweetly placed samples of "Over the Rainbow".

Although the film seems resolved after the first 90 minutes or so, Luhrmann does not let us forget the involvement of Australia during World War II with the Japanese bombing of Darwin and its outlying islands, does not undermine the prejudice and racism experienced between The Blacks and The Whites with the abominations spawned from rape and domination detained and referred to as the "Stolen Generations". And with its candy-cotton pink and yellow tones, the cinematography is reminscient of "Gone With the Wind", "Vanilla Sky", and "What Dreams May Come", enriching the grandeur of this film, successfully sweeping you away into the magical land of Oz.


Rating: A