Australia Movie Review

To a significant extent, the film is a mea culpa, in a vast popular-entertainment format, for the cruel racial policies once imposed by the Australian government upon Aboriginals in general and, specifically, half-castes, who were aggressively swept out of sight. It was one of Luhrmann's best ideas to make the film's narrator the prepubescent Nullah (Brandon Walters), a charming boy who not only observes the vast sweep of the story but provides its fulcrum.

One of Nullah's first remarks, that the Englishwoman newly arrived at the remote Northern Territory ranch of Faraway Downs is "the strangest woman I'd ever seen," gets a laugh, as the sight of the prim, uptight and discomfited Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) definitely looks comically absurd. Coming there in September 1939 to deal with her husband's presumed infidelity, Sarah could scarcely be more out of place on the rundown estate occupied by rough cattlemen and Aboriginal help, and Kidman is unafraid to look ridiculous as her character presents herself at the brink of hysteria.

Self-consciously jaunty exposition and over-the-top boisterousness -- Sarah's lingerie is spilled out in front of a saloon for the delectation of the rowdy drunks -- gets the film off to a choppy start. But in broad, simple strokes, and with characters that are archetypes rather than real-world credible, Luhrmann makes very clear everything the audience needs to know: Sarah, finding her husband murdered, determines to hold on to Faraway Downs, which she can only do by driving 1,500 head of cattle to the Darwin port, where the Australian military will purchase them; the only one who can manage this is the Drover (Hugh Jackman), a rugged Aussie cowboy who's himself an outcast due to his friendliness toward Aboriginals; Sarah and the Drover are destined for each other, but only after much squabbling; bad guys -- King Carney (Bryan Brown) and Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) -- will try to thwart the drive, and Nullah must be protected from officials determined to send him to Mission Island, where half-caste boys are detained.
ther perfs are as exaggerated in line with the general approach, most notably Wenham's as the ever-evil Fletcher; Luhrmann may as well have pasted a Snidely Whiplash moustache on him and been done with it.

Score by David Hirschfelder and other hands never stops, while production and costume design by Luhrmann's wife and perennial collaborator, Catherine Martin, are notable without being as dominant as they were in the "Red Curtain" extravaganzas. Pic takes plenty of advantage of diverse natural Australian locations.
There's a pause in the action. Covered in blood, sweat and dust and panting from exhaustion, the Drover turns slowly to Lady Ashley, looking at her as he wipes his mouth with a single silk stocking and says, in a thick, irony-laden drawl: "Welcome to Australia". Australia is reported to have gone $US30million over its $US100 million budget and right to the last minute there was speculation that it would not be finished in time for its Australian premiere.

Australian audiences – who are already in love with the film – are guaranteed to flock to the box office but Luhrmann needs the American market if he is to break even. If all else fails there is always Jackman, stripped to the waist, under the shower. That if nothing else should pull them in.

Our Rating : 6/10