Australia, the film

When a person writes about a movie they have recently seen, sometimes it encourages or discourages others from watching it which always leads me to hesitate to do a review. After all what we enjoy is so different. So to help others know if my review of the film Australia will be of value to them, I have recently also loved Ratatouille, Madagascar 2, and Mamma Mia.

I wouldn't want you to think I never watch arty films, but I am pretty much one of those people who enjoys movies that leave me feeling good. Australia did that. I know I will be watching it off and on as I do Tombstone (Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer), Red River (John Wayne), and any of the Shreks (but best once Puss in Boots was in the movies). So given that piece of information, here was my take on Australia.

Farm Boss and I loved it. It did start off a little weird where I think the director, Baz Luhrmann, couldn't resist throwing in a kind of arty touch. He should have skipped that and began it in a few scenes. The story would have made better sense from the start, and I think that beginning might have turned off a few critics who never got past it. It also spoiled any suspense in a later supposedly worrisome moment.

Luhrmann has not actually directed a lot of films: an earlier one I have never heard of, Romeo and Juliet in the 90s, Moulin Rouge in 2001 and 2008's Australia. Since he comes from Australia, this film, which took a lot of effort to get made, is clearly a labor of love. I think he made the film he wanted to make and critics be damned.

Nicole Kidman is often a favorite target of critics. In this one, they said she didn't show enough expression. Not enough lines in her face (could that be because she was only 39 when filming it?) Then I read someone saying she showed too much emotion. You can't win, can you? For me, she was gorgeous but willing to get dirty and look worn down. She was funny, touching and showed her character's growth as she came to love the Outback, a child, and a man, and then had to learn to release them all if need be.

Kidman has even apologized for her performance. I suggest she go back in a few years and see it without the reviews in her mind. I think then she might see it for what it was-- a warm portrayal of a complex woman in the true spirit of the movie stars of old.

Then there's that natural wonder of the world-- Hugh Jackman. Is there nothing this man cannot do? He rode horses like he'd done it all his life, perhaps he has. One scene in particular comes to mind where he had been on the road all that day, was washing by the campfire, no shirt, and Kidman's character looks out the tent, eyes wide (as likely would have been all the women in the audience). That was a scene straight out of the romance novels. There is plenty of traditional romance in the movie, but it's not just about that.

You might get the impression it's a very erotic film from these two photos but I just liked them and how they suggest so much without nudity. Actual sex scenes were only these. One critic said the lead characters had no chemistry. I had to wonder what film he watched. The love story elements were not so much about sex as about a man and a woman trying to work out the problems couples have always faced since the beginning-- is love enough? Can we make this work? And if we can how will it be?

The landscape of Australia is so magnificent that it made me want to head down there and buy a ranch (totally unrealistic but I tend to fall in love with land pretty easily). It looked parched and dry but made it clear that it's a seasonal thing where the year is normally divided into dry and rainy seasons. As a cattle woman, I did wonder where the grass was to raise beef that looked that good!

Yes, I love westerns and it followed the western tradition, but it also had a spiritual element about Aboriginal spirituality. I have always heard these stories and Australia used them as part of the soul of this vast land, but also illustrating the unfairness those of us of European extraction have shown to anyone different than us. Do we respect no spirituality but our own?

Australia didn't change these policies toward the Aborigines until 1973. The film makes us care about the unfairness of taking children from their families to 'educate' them appropriately (which happened in the United States for awhile also).

Some say Australia was too long. I expected to feel this way, but no, it was just right. There were several places that I thought they could have had a climax; but if they had, something would have been missed.

For me it was a sensual feast between the land, the lead characters, and the spirituality. Were there predictable elements, the kind where you know a character is only there to get killed? Yep.

Was the ending satisfying? Definitely and I have read another ending had been tried with test audiences, but the audiences rebelled. Good for them because what we are left with is a film in the spirit of the old classics, with (for me) its only flaw a poor beginning but that redeems itself very quickly. Fortunately, I had bought it because I was pretty sure I'd like it. It definitely goes in my list of favorite films, but keep in mind what is alongside it for whether it would be one of yours.

The cattle working shot I found at News BBC. The photo at the bottom wasn't really in the film. I scanned it months ago from an article in Vanity Fair about the coming movie. I loved the photograph's sensual message of strong man, giving woman, and the horse. Wow, I thought, I have to see this film. When it hit the theater, we had some icy weather, I got a cough, and then it was gone from local theaters. I was disappointed to not see it on the big screen, but it was very enjoyable on DVD.