DIRECTOR Baz Luhrmann’s much-anticipated epic Australia is not without its flaws.
There are numerous imperfections throughout this ambitious locally-made film’s mammoth 165-minute running time, yet in the end it somehow manages to rise above these blemishes to reveal itself as something of a fractured masterpiece.
Luhrmann’s vision of Australia is mystic, grand, poetic, melodramatic, grandiose, visceral and in some ways not too dissimilar from a Qantas or Victoria Bitter commercial – yet it is these factors that make his vision completely and utterly enthralling.
Homages abound within this film, including a drawn-out one to The Wizard of Oz, but perhaps the most obvious one is to Gone with the Wind.
When that film came out in 1939 – coincidentally the year this film begins – it was also labelled a melodramatic over-the-top romantic epic, yet Wind was more than just a romantic saga. It took place during America’s civil war and showed a country in the midst of change.
While Australia may have never had a civil war, there is no denying its relationship with the indigenous population and its assimilation policies come close.
The story of Australia takes place in the Top End between 1939 and 1942, maybe Australia’s most defining years since Federation.
English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) heads to a “faraway land”, frustrated that her husband has not sold a cattle ranch he promised he would sell, and suspicious also that he is having an affair.
On her arrival in Darwin, Ashley is confronted with a place that is something of a backwater nightmare, which only gets worse when she is driven to her husband’s land by the roguish (and nameless) Drover (Hugh Jackman).
The first section plays like a quirky 1940s comedic romp, with much slapstick coming at the expense of Kidman’s either terrific or awful comic timing as her character tries to adjust to her new life.
On her estate, the austere Faraway Downs, Ashley comes to learn about the division between the Aboriginals and caucasians.
And it is these issues of race relations – not the overly-hyped romance – that dominate the film and ultimately power its heart and soul.
Ashley meets a young boy, Nullah (12-year-old Brandon Walters in a movie-stealing performance), whom she is immediately besotted by.
When Nullah’s mother dies in a race-related incident, Ashley decides that she wants to make Nullah her son, yet finds herself torn between an establishment that would rather forget these types of children exist, and a spiritual and vulnerable race that still want to continue their traditions of old, despite the opposition they face.
During these events, Ashley finds her land and cattle under threat from the area’s main cattle breeder, King Carney (Brian Brown), and his malevolent future son-in-law, Neil Fletcher (David Wenham).
Over the course of the film, there are incredible set pieces such as a spectacular cattle drove and the Darwin bombing, yet these events do not dominate or overpower, rather complement and give context to the characters.
For the first time in his career, Luhrmann is not shy of making strong political statements.
His Australia is not one that has forgotten those who lived on the land dreaming, nor is it one that condemns people for living a way they only knew how.
He should be commended for taking a risk and using big Hollywood dollars to make a stand for the Australia he wants to believe in – one that is built on idealistic dreams and fights against the age old tall poppy syndrome that constantly tries to defeat it.AUSTRALIA (M)
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman
Rating: four stars (165 mins)