Down Under

Baz Luhrmann's Australia

by Shaun Brady

Luhrmann uses a few years in the history of Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory, to offer a study of the relationship between England, white Australians and Aboriginals, in particular the "Stolen Generation" — mixed-race children forced into subservience to white families, in hopes of, as one character says, "breeding the black out of them."

All of this is submerged in a cacophony of culture clashes, cattle drives, bombing raids, mysticism and romance. Part Western, part World War II actioner, part screwball comedy, part epic melodrama, Australia is decidedly old-fashioned. It's like Luhrmann surveyed the output of the '40s Hollywood studios, took one example from each genre, stitched 'em end to end, Aussie-fied the whole thing and cranked it to 11.

Nicole Kidman is the prim-and-proper Brit who follows her husband to the outback, only to find him murdered. The resident snarling cattle baron (Bryan Brown) is conniving to take her land and herd for himself, so she enlists Drover (Hugh Jackman) to help her save the ranch. Naturally, they're ensnared in a bantering love-hate relationship, more Romancing the Stone than Bringing Up Baby, although they all but adopt a young mixed-race boy (Brandon Walters) when his mother is killed. Eventually, their fates collide with the Japanese bombing of Darwin that immediately followed Pearl Harbor.

Especially in its first hour, the film is paced like a Viagra overdose, seemingly reaching a climax about every 30 seconds. Each shot clamors for attention like a spoiled child. Luhrmann directs with all the subtlety of a Mummers Parade — why simply end a scene when you can throw in dancing in the streets?

With one running thread recalling The Wizard of Oz, Luhrmann seems to suggest that the story's more outlandish elements — the cartoonish performances, simplistic good vs. evil characterizations, wide-eyed mysticism — are interpreted through a child's eyes. But the director's ADHD-addled approach doesn't allow for one single perspective, fracturing the POV into a fly's-eye-view prism. The insect similarities are apt — the experience of watching the film is akin to staring at an ant farm, a maze of ceaseless, but ultimately fruitless, activity.

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Australia | Directed by Baz Luhrmann | A 20th Century Fox release