Australia (2008)

Director:

Baz Luhrmann

Writers:

Stuart Beattie (screenplay) and
Baz Luhrmann (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot:

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand.

Plot Keywords:

Cattle | Australia | Bombing Of Darwin | Baron | Bombing

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 7 wins & 19 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Aug. 1	4:30 PM	HBO
Wed. Aug. 4	5:00 PM	HBO

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Shea Adams	...	Carney Boy #3
Eddie Baroo	...	Bull
Ray Barrett	...	Ramsden
Tony Barry	...	Sergeant Callahan
Jamal Bednarz-Metallah	...	Mission Boy
Damian Bradford	...	Constable #1
Bryan Brown	...	King Carney
Nathin Butler	...	Carney Boy #1
Tara Carpenter	...	Essential Services Woman
Rebecca Chatfield	...	Magarri's Niece
Lillian Crombie	...	Bandy Legs
Max Cullen	...	Old Drunk
Essie Davis	...	Cath Carney
Arthur Dignam	...	Father Benedict
Michelle Dyzla	...	Hairdresser

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.

Runtime:

165 min

Country:

Australia | USA | UK

Language:

English | Aboriginal | Chinese | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | South Korea:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44939) | Singapore:PG | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-13 | Norway:11 | UK:12A | Czech Republic:U | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | New Zealand:M | Brazil:12 | Argentina:Atp | Germany:12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Hong Kong:IIA | Spain:7 | Taiwan:GP | South Africa:13V | Peru:PT | Chile:TE | Sweden:11 | Mexico:B | Iceland:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Bowen, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Filming on the project finally began in spring 2007 and went on for nine hard months. Baz Luhrmann approached the filming with obsessive resolve. He constantly shot and re-shot scenes until he got it just the way he wanted. This obsessive attention to detail caused the project to go over budget and caused several scheduling problems. To further the production's difficulties, Australia itself was not very cooperative. On one occasion, the largest and most expensive of the sets for the film was completely flooded when huge rain showers hit a part of the country that rarely gets any rain at all. On other occasions, filming had to be delayed for days on end because of bad weather or poor lighting. Every delay was especially costly on this project, since Luhrmann employed hundreds of crew members and had a herd of fifteen hundred cattle that needed to be fed and cared for. This completely drained the budget allotted for the movie and production had to be improvised. Director was forced to go begging for more money and certain compromises had to be made. He even had to move the filming of the final scenes of the movie from Darwin, where they were supposed to take place, to Bowen because the local government provided him with 500,000 dollars to film there.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Drover shows up at the ball freshly shaved, there is no tan line from where his beard once was. Since he spends all his time out in the intense sun, the bottom half of his face would surely be paler.

Quotes:

Magarri:If you've got no love in your heart, you've got nothing... No dreaming, not story, nothing.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Australia Unites: The Victorian Bushfire Appeal (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Drover's Ballad

Enjoyable Romantic Adventure

In 1939, the aristocratic Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) travels from Great Britain to Australia to meet her husband Maitland Ashley in northern Australia. The husband's drover (Hugh Jackman) comes to the city of Darwin to bring Sarah to their farm; however, when they reach Faraway Downs Farm, they find that Maitland was murdered apparently by the aborigine King George (David Gulpilil). Sarah befriends the half-breed boy Nullah (Brandon Walters), who tells her that the administrator Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) is stealing her cattle; has killed her husband; and is working for the cattle baron King Carney (Bryan Brown). Sarah fires Fletcher and his men and together with Drover, Nullah and a group of loyal employees, they ride together to bring the cattle to supply the army and win a tender in times of war. But the ambitious Fletcher has other intentions and uses Nullah to press Sarah.

"Australia" is an enjoyable romantic adventure in times of war. The story is narrated by the storyteller Nullah and uses many historical events in Australia. For example, the lost generation was wonderfully depicted by Phillip Noyce in his "Rabbit-Proof Fence" and is brought back in this story. The movie has some moments of soap-opera, is too long but never boring. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Australia"