Today, I watched Australia. I’ve been wanting to see it for a while, but only got around to it now. I didn’t see it in the cinema, because it is rather long (over two-and-a-half hours), and I’m likely to get restless and fidgety sitting in a chair for that long.
I enjoyed it! It wasn’t amazing, but if I were to rate it, I’d give it a solid three-and-a-half bottles of rum out of five. It was not without some flaws, though. In particular, it provided but a cursory glance to the Stolen Generations, which would be fine if it didn’t set out address the topic. However, the film both opened and closed with text approaching the topic, yet failed to spend more than a few minutes of storyline acknowledging the Stolen Generations. I poked around the Internet, and the idea that the film was made more for overseas audiences popped up, which could be very true, especially considering where the funding came from. If so, overseas audiences not knowing much about the Stolen Generations is probably good enough motivation to look at it only superficially.
The wide aspect ratio that comes with film was a great asset to Australia. It really is a beautiful country, and there were so many beautiful, wide shots of the landscape from all sorts of angles. Kind of inspires me to spontaneously go on an outback adventure. If only it wasn’t for my inability to withstand hot temperatures…
I’m secretly a Nicole Kidman fan. I like her now, and I like her “old school” stuff, too (Bangkok Hilton is some of the best television I’ve seen). She’s a great actor, and is pretty beautiful. Come to think of it, I must be a Baz Luhrman fan, also! I have seen, and enjoyed, all his (four) films.
I’m not a huge fan of Nicole Kidman but I love Hugh Jackman
I kind of just want to see it because of the landscape shots.
I thought the movie was good also. And I thought the Stolen Generations were a rather large part of the flim. It is definitely in there rather inconspicuously but I noticed they continually referred back to it throughout the film but they didn’t really explain it all that well and I fear that if I were from America I would be thinking, “Why the fuck do they wanna take the creamy kid?!”
I also like Baz Luhrman’s work. Especially his “Strictly Ballroom” I thought it was a rather good movie for the low funding it received.
Nicole Kidman is a great actor and the best thing is that she is versatile. She can hold a British accent like a trooper but when it comes time that true blue Aussie shines through like a lost penny.
Oh Australia… while I loved the movie and will probably buy it sometime in the near future, I do wish they had gone into some more specifics about the Stolen Generations. I’m an American, was in Australia in 2004 and got to have one of those museum briefings on the topic, but my education isn’t where it should be. I find it strange how we learn about all the WWII stuff, Stalin, Hitler, Mao… but all that serious history that happened in Australia isn’t even in our educational programs over here. But then again, maybe the movie wasn’t meant to be educational – it reminds me of Pearl Harbor… a love story that happens to occur in the middle of something significant. The acting was gorgeous though, as was the screenplay and landscape… makes we want to go back before July!
It never occurred to me to watch Australia, and I can’t say that I have any intention to either now — I’m not a big fan of Australian films, and perhaps the immense amount of pride that Australia musters up for every Australian film turns me off watching them. Or maybe I just don’t dig Australian accents. Or maybe I just spend too much time reading about the Stolen Generation and their legal cases. Though, having said that, I’m curious as to what an Indigenous Australian would’ve made of the film — was it balanced, did it portray their perspective, etc. Hrmm.