I remember seeing Baz Luhrmann’s
Romeo + Juliet for the first time as a teeny bopper. It was the most delicious cinematic feast. I wept at the tragedy, I marveled at the visual spectacular and the music swept me away. The theatrics and the garish production design were a breath of fresh air, and I became a devoted fan of Luhrmann’s work.
And so it was with excitement that I went to see his new epic,
Australia, last week.
I probably don’t need to give you the gist of the story – anyone who has flicked on a television set lately (or taken a Qantas flight) will have been inundated with the film. Nicole Kidman is an English rose, stuck in the outback, with only Hugh Jackman’s rippling muscles to protect her. Thrown into the mix is a little insight into the atrocities of the white assimilation policy, the Japanese bombing of Darwin and indigenous actor David Gulpilil standing on one leg.
When viewing the film, you immediately get the sense that Luhrmann has been like a kid in a candy store when given the green light to make an old-school epic. The visuals are sumptuous, the performances reminiscent of 1950s Hollywood, the costumes dazzling and the script laden with drama and romance. And some of the big action sequences have to be seen to be believed - I actually felt a bit of vertigo when cattle were stampeding near a cliff face, and I nearly wet my pants when planes started bombing Darwin.
Die-hard fans of Luhrmann's work will be pleased to hear that he has retained his signature style, creating (as one reviewer described it) his “ultramagical reality”. You know the drill – the hammed up performances, the theatrical staging etc.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
And while this style works so well in
Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge! and
Romeo + Juliet, I found it somewhat jarring in this film. The vaudevillian flavour just didn’t seem to fit the story and the raw setting of the outback.
The other irritating aspect of this film is that Luhrmann has latched on to a storyline parallel with the
Wizard of Oz, which he hammers home with brutal force. The kid whistles “somewhere over the rainbow”, Jack Thompson plays it on his harmonica and Nicole Kidman warbles a couple of bars. Towards the end of it, you feel like standing on your chair and screaming “Okay! We get it! They all come from lands called ‘oz’!”
It’s obvious that this film has been largely created for an international audience fascinated by the wild Australian outback – the same people who flocked to cinemas for Mick Dundee and television sets for Steve Irwin. As such, Hugh Jackman’s accent is broader than a Chinese swimmer’s shoulders and the word “crikey” is bandied around with gay abandon. While this is all well and good for the American fans of the Crocodile Hunter, it will make many an Australian viewer shudder.
Speaking of shuddering,
Nicole Kidman is copping a bit of flak for her performance in this film, and rightly so. She’s fairly irritating. When she's called on to convey a “powerful woman” she struts around with her hands on her hips, and when the script calls for her to be “vulnerable”, she makes her eyes go watery. It’s like she's come directly from Acting 101.
Kidman is possibly part of the reason this film fell a little flat for me. While I am guilty of shedding the odd tear here and there, I ultimately didn’t adore the two lead characters together and as such, the film lacked a bit of emotional impact.
For my part,
Australia would have been much better with Cate Blanchett in the lead. Ditto Rose Byrne. Hell, even Noni Hazelhurst could have made a better fist of it.
While on the topic of Aussie actors it is - as always – entertaining to see such well-known local faces popping up on the big screen. Highlights of
Australia include seeing Barry Otto wearing a safari hat and John Jarratt leading an army. The audience also giggled when Rolf Harris and his wobble board popped up on the soundtrack.
So while the film is incredibly long, Kidman is a poor choice and the Australiana aspect over-the-top, this film is not to be slammed entirely. Its greatest achievement will undoubtedly be bringing the issue of the Stolen Generation into the conscious of thousands of people worldwide, who would probably never have heard about it otherwise.
And for that, you have to give Baz credit. Maybe not an Oscar, but an encouraging slap on the back.
Australia opens in cinemas nationally tomorrow.
You can view the Australia trailer here on TheVine.