2 Movies: Australia

Went to watch Australia with Mh earlier in the day.

I loved Australia, the movie i mean. The movie is a romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia prior to World War II, the film centres on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier. Extracted from Sg Movies.

Baz Luhrmann directs this romantic epic with his usual flair for pizazz, vibrancy, and unabashed melodrama but they are done with fervour and passion. Some of the action scenes are genuinely heartstopping, like the explosive cattle stampede, and the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese forces. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman have incredible onscreen chemistry and they play two distinctly different characters that bond and gel together over time, over adventures, and over hardship. The cast does a great job in the show with the two strong leads heading plus an amicable half-Aboriginal child played by Brandon Walters and an evil nemesis played by David Wenham.

The show is not just a romantic epic but it also encompasses themes of racism of the Aboriginal people in Australia. It depicts many people decades ago in their conservative and racist mindset that the Whites are superior than the Aboriginals and the movie clearly made its stance of its anti-racism views. The themes are still hugely relevant even in this modern society where racism sometimes still rears its ugly head.

All in all, Australia is a hugely cinematic experience with themes of romance, adventure, war, and clashes of different races combined to one and set in the picturesque outback Australia. It is traditional filmmaking that is highly melodramatic but thoroughly engaging and entertaining. Highly recommended.

PS: It is hard to leave an eye dry while watching the show.

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