A Genetic Epic

Producer
Baz Luhrmann, G. Mac Brown and Catherine Knapman
Director
Baz Luhrmann
Writer
Baz Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan
Starring
Nicole Kidman
Hugh Jackman
David Wenham
Bryan Brown
Jack Thompson



I always wanted to go to Australia, and after watching the movie Australia I had my wish changed. The film itself is quite beautiful, but it is quite genetic as a whole. Australia is not Moulin Rouge where Luhrmann’s extravaganza fitted quite well. In Australia, his way of making a movie sounded artistically beautiful but fake! Australia falls in a huge amount of chicles because Luhrmann, perhaps, does not make a mistake through his ideas but his creativity does not fill the gaps in his screenplay.

Australia is half a western, but it uses Gone With the Wind as a model to narrate its romantic story. I am a real Nicole Kidman’s admirer, but her Oscar for The Hours did not help her career at all. In this film, Kidman overacts in every single scene that she appears on screen. Also, Hugh Jackman, who is a very talented actor, does not succeed playing a genetic character- a mix of John Wayne with Clark Gable. At least, Jackman was awarded as the sexiest man alive, in 2008. However, both actors are also responsible for the boredom of the film!

"Australia" opens a socio/political discussion regarding the Aborigines’cause, but Luhrmann does not know how to explore it, letting everything vague. And if Kidman and Jackman did a terrible job in their respective performances, the rest of the cast is quite theatrical- an exhibitionist style which worked very well in Mouge Rouge, but here it sucks!

This film has an amazing cinematography, extraordinary mis-en- scene, but it is not a good movie. David Hirschfelder is a great composer, but his soundtrack does not match the context of the film, either.

I believe I will find people who are going to love this film. It’s sad that its beauty makes me sick. I believe I won't go to Australia anymore!


Score: 1/10