http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/11/19/Australia_review_Lurhmann_ticks_all_boxes_in_magic_epic

Australia review: Lurhmann ticks all boxes in magic epic

• Baz Lurhmann, Nicole Kidman at yesterday's Australia press conference

It’s a bold task to squash an entire country into a single celluloid. But if director Baz Lurhmann can be noted for one thing, then that is certainly his ability to take the plunge into ambitious projects with full gusto.

The results of his experiments however, have always maintained a split reception. You either love his boldness and his artistry, or you think it is over the top nonsense.

And while the fruits of his last work, 2001’s Moulin Rouge, could be easily dismissed as a post-modern jumble of baubles and trinkets – his latest film, Australia, has stripped back his gimmickry and revealed a full-hearted, sympathetic story teller – with an acute eye for not only the magic in our environment, but also the alchemy of human potential.

Bringing together pinnacles of our combined acting talents, landscapes, people, history and culture, Luhrmann weaves the fibres of our nation into a dense tapestry that is a striking celebration of our uniqueness – but also a glimpse of the soft underbelly of our darkness.

Set in 1939, with the threat of the Nazi menace an ephemeral buzz in the background, we are introduced to an English Aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), a zipped up prude who quickly finds herself in possession of a large cattle station in the Northern Territory, after her husband’s murder.

Acting as her reluctant guide of sorts is The Drover (Hugh Jackman), an enigmatic, yet fiercely determined and individual rogue, who despite being a white man, has an inexorable link to the indigenous people – an aspect of his personality that is met with disgust by his community.

As leads, they fill traditional roles, and Australia is a traditional film in the truest sense of the word.

Harking back to the sweeping epic thrust of Gone With The Wind and Laurence Of Arabia, Lurhmann’s film strides forward with a gushing sense of majesty, and embodies the spirit of these classic films with relative ease. It also gives a thorough ticking of all the important boxes which make up the characteristics of the classics.

But augmenting the high falootin’, and bringing the tone of the film truer to Luhrmann’s joviality is the guttural, warts-and-all quality of its Australian acting alumni cast.

The puffer-fish gills of Jack Thompson’s eternally drunk accountant, Kipling Flynn, are spread out on the screen with grotesque hilarity, and the lanky dodginess of Bryan Browns King Carney gives a frank friendliness along with a vicious streak that hints he could be a distant relative of Pando from Two Hands.

Infused in the mix is the solid support of David Wenham, John Jarratt, Ben Mendelsohn, Bill Hunter and Sandy Gore, making Australia almost a who’s who of our cinematic past – a yearbook of sorts that facilitates a healthy respect for our acting elite.

But despite the sweeping rushes, the comic relief, and the sexual tension between Kidman and Jackman, it is the quiet dignity of David Gulpilil’s King George and the astonishing performance of 13-year-old Brandon Walters’s Nullah that steal the show.

King George, the Aboriginal elder who rests high on the hill, watches over all proceedings – from the complex task of droving 1500 head of cattle, matched with the challenge of divining water in the face of dehydrated desert peril, right through to the annihilation of a city by Japanese Air Forces – it is King George that is the stone face and the sacred heart of the entire film.

Most importantly, King George watches over his grandson, the wizardly prodigious Nullah, who has quickly switched himself onto the hidden magic of his surroundings – it’s best seen to understand what the little man is capable of doing.

Nullah’s childlike wonder, slowly growing realization of the evils of men, and final accordance with his culture and spirituality, is the warm fluidity in a picture that could have easily turned into a stogy and stiff affair.

Luckily, Luhrmann’s direction maintains a balanced harmony – all strings are tightly wound and are plucked in a masterful symphony of romance, action, comedy, tragedy and triumph.

Australian audiences however, might grimace through a few instances of the film – where the appeal to the American and international markets peeks its head around corners to remind us that it is a part of the intention – but in the politeness of taking in a guest, its important to remember that at times you will be made a little out of sorts.

It’s hard to say if Australia will have the seismic impact of a runaway success like Crocodile Dundee – but given the incredible depth and scope of the film, it’s a celebratory postcard we can all be proud of.