Australia

Australia-2008

Baz Luhrmann has never been a stranger to borrowing for his movies. With Moulin Rouge, he took some of the greatest pop songs in the last twenty-five years and in Romeo + Juliet, he reworked William Shakespeare’s great story into a modern day setting. In his fourth film, Australia, the first film outside of his Red Curtain trilogy, which also included Strictly Ballroom, Luhrmann borrows from so many classic films it feels more like an homage than an original idea.

Australia is set in the late 30’s, before World War II and tells the story of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who inherits Faraway Downs, a large cattle ranch. To help her move the cattle to sell, she enlists the help of Drover (Hugh Jackman), a half-Aborigine. While on her trek, she tries to protect her newly acquired land from Neil Fletcher (David Wehham), become a mother figure to the recently orphaned Nullah (newcomer Brandon Walters) and try to fight the connection that her and Drover have.

Kidman has always been great at playing the stuck up, set in their ways characters, as she has proven in the recent Margot at the Wedding and Cold Mountain. She is in her element in those parts and for a majority of this film as well. Jackman seems to be trying to get a mixture of Robert Redford, Humphrey Bogart and Indiana Jones as Drover, and for the most part, he actually hits that pretty much on the head. This combination proves to be his best role since his 2006 releases The Prestige and The Fountain. Wenham’s villainous character is as good as the script allows him to be, but much more could have been done to show the despicable nature of the character. But the great revelation of this film is young Walters, who brings magic to his role and is brilliant in his simplicity.

Quite possibly the real star of this film though is cinematographer Mandy Walker, who gives Australia an almost unbelievable beauty. There are several scenes where CG does look too obvious and unrealistic, yet this hopefully will not keep Walker from being the first female cinematographer to be nominated for an Academy Award at year’s end.

Anyone familiar with Luhrmann will be familiar with his style of quick editing and an amazing amount of fantasy mixed with reality. However viewers expecting that Luhrmann style will be heavily disappointed by the complacency and simplicity he brings to his story. The film almost seems too conventional at times, which is the films’ biggest problem. By the end, it seems like Out of Africa-meets-Gone With the Wind-meets-Rabbit-Proof Fence and any whimsy that Luhrmann has shown in previous films is notably absent.

Even though it may seem unusually simple for a Luhrmann film and it does borrow from several other movies extensively, it still is a remarkably good film. The vastness and sheer scale of the film is incredible and almost every shot is gorgeous. But it is a disappointment to see a film that is so simple from a director of such beautiful and intricately edited and orchestrated films making such a customary film. Thankfully, while the film is orthodox, is still is a great film and an incredible journey that soars through its almost three hour running time and one of the best films to come out so far this fall.

Rating: B

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