In northern Australia at the beginning of World War II, an English aristocrat inherits a cattle station the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.
In 1939, the aristocratic Lady Sarah Ashley travels from Great Britain to Australia to meet her husband Maitland Ashley in northern Australia. The husband's drover comes to the city of Darwin to bring Sarah to their farm; however, when they reach Faraway Downs Farm, they find that Maitland was murdered. Sarah befriends Nullah, who tells her that the administrator Neil Fletcher is stealing her cattle; has killed her husband; and is working for the cattle baron King Carney. Sarah fires Fletcher and his men and together with Drover, Nullah and a group of loyal employees, they ride together to take the cattle to supply the army and win a tender in times of war. But the ambitious Fletcher has other intentions and uses Nullah to press Sarah.
Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, History, Romance, War, Western
Runtime: 165 minutes
Rating: 6.9/10 (29,939 votes)
Release Date: 18 November 2008
Country: Australia, USA
Languages: English, Aboriginal
Company: Bazmark Films
Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.
Director(s): Baz Luhrmann
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Producer(s):
G. Mac Brown - producer
Catherine Knapman - producer
Baz Luhrmann - producer
Catherine Martin - co-producer
Paul Watters - associate producer
Writer(s):
Stuart Beattie - (screenplay) and
Baz Luhrmann - (screenplay) &
Ronald Harwood - (screenplay) and
Richard Flanagan - (screenplay)
Baz Luhrmann - (story)
Cast:
Shea Adams - Carney Boy #3
Eddie Baroo - Bull
Ray Barrett - Ramsden
Tony Barry - Sergeant Callahan
Jamal Bednarz-Metallah - Mission Boy
Damian Bradford - Constable #1
Bryan Brown - King Carney
Nathin Butler - Carney Boy #1
Tara Carpenter - Essential Services Woman
Rebecca Chatfield - Magarri's Niece
Music: David Hirschfelder
G. Mac Brown - producer
Catherine Knapman - producer
Baz Luhrmann - producer
Catherine Martin - co-producer
Paul Watters - associate producer
Writer(s):
Stuart Beattie - (screenplay) and
Baz Luhrmann - (screenplay) &
Ronald Harwood - (screenplay) and
Richard Flanagan - (screenplay)
Baz Luhrmann - (story)
Cast:
Shea Adams - Carney Boy #3
Eddie Baroo - Bull
Ray Barrett - Ramsden
Tony Barry - Sergeant Callahan
Jamal Bednarz-Metallah - Mission Boy
Damian Bradford - Constable #1
Bryan Brown - King Carney
Nathin Butler - Carney Boy #1
Tara Carpenter - Essential Services Woman
Rebecca Chatfield - Magarri's Niece
Music: David Hirschfelder
May 16th, 2009
after viewing the trailer i was excited to watch this, but the firsthour and a half is complete waste of time, nothing to do with war itsactually about moving cattle. It reminded me of a terrible kids movie.
its the first movie i wanted to break the disc in half. Around 15 of usstarted to watch the movie and only 2 of us were foolish enough towatch it fully.
i actually paused the movie after the first hour and re-watched thetrailer to make sure i had the right movie.
i feel sorry for anyone who has to watch this movie in the future. I ampuzzled that this movie is at a 7/10
May 19th, 2009
Set in 1939, Australia is an epic film, but perhaps not in the sameclass as epics like GONE WITH THE WIND, which it seems to be trying toemulate.
It has everything though: comedy, drama, a good music score, a bit ofdancing, droving, and even a TORA! TORA! TORA!-like Pearl harbourbombing sequence! Crikey! Perhaps it's all a bit much.
The only member of the cast who gives a credible performance is youngBrandon Walters as Nullah. Everyone else, especially Nicole Kidman,David Wenham and Jack Thompson are completely over-the-top.
The "stolen generation" sub-plot doesn't make much real historicalcredibility because back in 1939 virtually nobody would have cared whathappened to our indigenous population. It took 70 years for a PrimeMinister here to say "sorry" for what happened.
However, it was still a good film all the same, but perhaps Baz couldhave toned everyone's Australian accents down a bit. We don't reallyspeak like that anymore.
June 6th, 2009
Looks like they were taking on more than they could chew here. This isa film that tries to be too many things and succeeds in some aspects,while failing in others. The pros first. As with a movie I saw recently: Delhi-6, if the intention was for the film to be a showcase for thecontinent, then yes, it's a fitting brochure of sorts that expandsbefore our eyes. One cannot help but be awestruck by the framing andthe scale of it. Mandy Walker (cinematography) and Baz Luhrmann(director, producer, co-writer) have produced a rich array of visualsthat will stick with you for a while after the viewing. The score(David Hirschfelder)complements the visuals well. The lead couple(Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman) share a chemistry that makes portionsof the romance worth its while. The performances themselves, whileshort of the best that the two are capable of, are earnest. Jackman'sscene in the bar involving blacks not being allowed entry is arecommendation to the same. David Wenham expands on his repertoire withan outright villainous turn.
As mentioned, the bane of this film is in Luhrmann's intentions. Itseeks to mark a return to the good old musicals with a dash of thewestern and the epic cross-country adventure films. There are attemptsat heavy-handed commentary on proselytization. It also champions thecause of leaving things the way they were as opposed towell-intentioned intervention. What ails the film is finesse requiredto handle content like this. This is David Lean or at the very leastJohn Huston territory which need not necessarily detract the rest fromattempting such movies but while doing so, it must be had in mind thatit's a tightrope walk.
It's worth a watch for the visual appeal alone. Don't think it's worthtreasuring.
June 13th, 2009
Having resisted the urge to see Australia for many months, I finallyhired the Blu Ray version because my mother in law was staying over forthe night. I thought I'd get something suitable for an octogenarianlady who likes "nice" films with pretty people in them.
Well, it turned out she'd seen it, and anyway she and my wife were offto a show at 8pm, so I'd have to watch it all by myself (a one nightrental, you see).
We have a home theater set up with high quality HD projection and alarge 12 foot screen… perfect for expansive Blu Ray vistas. I thoughtI'd get at least some Academy Award nominated eye candy out ofAustralia, if nothing else. Not being a big Kidman or Jackman fan, Iwas hoping some of the supporting roles would hold my attention.
I was glad I could watch Australia alone, as it made my laughing outloud and the tears rolling down my face (sometimes simultaneously) lessembarrassing.
This is a wonderful, sprawling, completely overdone, yet breathtakinglyentertaining movie. I'm not interested in where it fits into the BazLurhmann body of work. I watched Australia for itself, as a one offexperience… and the film delivers a cornucopia of cinema treats.
Be warned: to enjoy Australia you have to suspend disbelief. That is agiven. Don't look for a sensitive, subtle, academic treatment of theplight of the Aboriginal Stolen Generations, redolent with citations,statistics and sober commentary. This film presents the situationcrystallized around the story of one little boy, as a representative ofthe thousands who were removed from their mothers and fathers, destinedfor lives as domestic servants in white homes or as cheap workers onwhite cattle stations in the Northern Territory.
Likewise, the depiction of the mystical Aboriginal holy man is notmeant to be taken literally. To my mind, the director's intent was tobypass stuffy academia and get to the soul of the Aboriginal person'sties to the land, which after all go back tens of thousands of years.There is no more magic in this movie than in any of the Indiana Jonesmovies, or Star Wars films, where the ability to rip out a beatinghuman heart, magic stones that ensure prosperity, the Arc Of TheCovenant as a force that can destroy armies, a mystical chalice whichwill impart immortality to those who drink from it, or The Force whichenables levitation of large spacecraft and the manipulation of minds…all these are accepted by most filmgoers without demur. The same couldbe said of any of a thousand successful movies: the Lord Of The RingsTrilogy, even Ghostbusters. They assume from the start that theirviewers will willing to suspend disbelief. This film requires that too.
Once your disbelief is checked at the door, you can sit back andindulge yourself in Australia. It is a film about emotion, not adocumentary. It's whether the emotional truth of the film, oftenmelodramatically worn on the director's sleeve, can grab your own heartand allow you to wallow in it unashamadely.
Other reviewers have said here that they were able to watch the wholefilm with rapt attention from beginning to end. I join those ranks, andproudly. There is hardly a moment when the action – emotional or actual- is not hitting you right between the eyes, be it the stunning vistasor the awful badness of the baddies, the tender first kiss between theDrover and Lady Sarah, or the razor's edge existence of the young"creamie" boy, Nullah, always on the run from the well-meaning butmisguided authorities who would "breed the Aboriginal out of him".
Sure, there are some CGI sections that at first seem way over the top,even comic book-like in their execution. But I'm not sure these weren'tintentional. I wonder whether they were deliberately done they way theywere to reinforce the magical and mystical thrust of the story? Yes, inAustralia there are elements and style quotations from scores ofprevious movies. It pays homage to Indiana Jones (all four of them),Out Of Africa, Star Wars, any of the great westerns, The African Queen,Pearl Harbour (yes, Darwin really was bombed by the Japanese just afterPearl Harbour, with great loss of life), even The Wizard Of Oz. Thelatter was used as a metaphor for the boy's journey from grim realityto a mystical land full of evil characters, good fairies and magicanimals. When he finally gets to see the movie itself, I'll guaranteeeven the most hardened eye in the audience will be struggling to holdback a tear.
The music was an eclectic collage of emotional cues, from the originalscore, thru the Hollywood musical and on to Elgar's Variations, withjazz, swing and bobbysoxer dance themes in between. Why not? Thevisuals and the sound reinforced each other, reaching not forfootnotable, citable truth but for emotional truth (which is what allgood films have ever done).
This was a great film, completely contrary to my preconceived notionsof what it would be like to watch. It receives from me just about thegreatest accolade I can offer any move: it's one I know I will watchover and over again, and get more out of with every viewing.
June 21st, 2009
This fictional tale of a cattle drive & the bombing of Darwin,Australia, with a cast & crew of all Australians, is without a doubtone of the worst movies that I have ever seen. I have been seeing filmssince about 1935.
Baz Luhrmann co-wrote & directed this cliché ridden mess. It has aboutevery single Western Movie cliché imaginable, Even the scenery in a fewkey scenes is right out of movies made in Monument Valley.
The Legendary John Ford used the same clichés in every western hemade,BUT he was a filmmaker of the first order. Luhrmann is a weakcopycat.
In 1952 there was a film KANGAROO from director Lewis Milesstonem madeentirely in Australia & in some of the same areas as this.It was purefiction BUT way better acted & made. It told a beautiful family storywith humour & adventure.
In 1943 there was a Charles Laughton drama, also pure fiction with afinale of the bombing of Darwin, It too was more believable than this &it was made in the MGM studio. Title was The Man From Down Under. alsomore enjoyable than this $ 130,000,000 mess.
The actors here are all Austrailan & all usually five first rateperformances. Hugh Jackman & Nicole Kidman are the two leads, & asusual at first are at odds, lo & behold they fall in love, How manytimes have the likes of John Wayne &* Maureen O'Hara have done this,
Jack Thompson is the lovable drunk who—shade of Thomas Mitchell diesheroically, how many times we seen this.
Brandon Walters an 11 year old mixed race child narrates & is featuredthroughout the film, his first role, He was very cute and brave likeall juvenile actors were. reminded me of Dean Stockwell.
I did not mind the process cinematography as much as I did the bad wayit was done, You easily could tell & now-a-days that is unforgivable.
We do see one galloping kangaroo, obviously a stock shot.
The excessively long ending is about the bombing of Darwin & the falsenotion of the Japanese landing on an island off Darwin.The never gotpassed Papua New Guinea.
There is no way I can even slightly recommend this piece of S**t.
Ratings: 1– out of 4— 22 points –out of 100—-IMDB 1– out of 10
June 23rd, 2009
For the first 15 minutes, you might think that this will be a sillycomedy, with its opening slapstick shenanigans. But then, once it getsgoing, it looks like it's gonna be an old-fashioned western, withKidman in the Barbara Stanwyck role. Jackman appears bare-chested foryou ladies, but does a cattleman need to look like a weightlifter? Itjust makes him look like he has a pin head.
If you are looking for subtlety, you must go elsewhere — there will beno doubt to the goodness of the good guys and the badness of the badguys. I think I have to go back to a stinker like "Twister" to find anapt comparison.
But wait, it's also a romance! Then Kidman's character pulls the sameline that Streep did in "Out of Africa", giving Jackman an ultimatum.But don't worry, that wasn't serious! But wait, now it turns into a warmovie! With only 4 writers, they apparently couldn't get the money tosign on a 5th who could contribute a sci-fi subplot. Still, we get"Rabbit Proof Fence" Lite — hey, we need the serious historicalinjustice thing to tie the whole thing together. Except that most of uswill sorta forget social relevance, what with all this other visualstimulation going on. There's a lot of really obvious CGI in the movie,too, which makes an already unreal movie look just plain cartoony, butthere aren't any dinosaurs in sight.
Acting? No, Luhrmann insists on overacting.
In the first scenes, the ranch looks rundown and lifeless. But, hey,once rainy season hits, it's a lush oasis. Gee, that's amazing!
Correct me if I'm wrong, you native Australians. But does a small childreally go on walkabout? I was under the impression that was a rite ofpassage to become a man, not someone still waiting for the onset ofpuberty.
Now, when it would not make any difference whatsoever, would the badguy really kill his own child? Luhrmann doesn't think we will thinkpast the big cheer that will go up from the crowd when an aboriginalspear finds its mark.
This movie is almost 3 hours long. Pretentious? By the loweredstandards set by "Titanic", no. Just bad.