|
Cattle Crossing the DVD Terrain of Baz Luhrmann's Australia
by Larson Hill
 How many of you out there have stood in an art gallery in front of a wall of paintings trying to decide if you like what you see or whether the art inside the art is just a bit off for your taste? How many times have you walked out of a movie theater wanting so badly to like the film more than the final result? After watching the nearly three-hour Oscar nominated Australia, the latest from director Baz Luhrmann, I came away with almost the exact same feelings as I had after Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. Both films had great trailers, successful directors, A-list casts, and a colorful blend of emotional drama and wartime intensity. However, much like Pearl Harbor, the ambitious, grandiose scope of Australia reveals that Luhrmann chose too large of a canvas to effectively create a masterpiece. And it's too bad because both stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman had a wonderful and interesting story to work within. Although the World War II set Australia is stunningly beautiful on the surface, both the character and dramatic strokes are far too erratic in connecting the emotional outer layers to the inner whole.
But, after seeing the movie, there's one major factor why I now believe Australia didn't work as effectively as some fans were hoping, one that many people appear to be overlooking, but I'll get to that later.
 Nicole Kidman stars as the Lady Sarah Ashley, a financially challenged beauty of nobility, who arrives in Australia to confront her husband about his wicked ways only to discover her spouse has been murdered and she's now in charge of their land and cattle ranch in the Australian Outback. Amid the chaos of Lady Sarah's newfound situation is rugged bushman Drover (Huge Jackman) who stays on to help her acclimate to life in the merciless terrain of Australia and the task of cattle transport, as one of her ranch hands becomes an infiltrator for the area's livestock mogul who only has eyes for Lady Ashley's land. Adding to hotbed of Aussie drama is the young boy, a "creamer" of multi-race, that Lady Ashley takes under her wing, as she and Drover attempt to outwit the immoral cattle mogul by moving cattle from her ranch to the Northern Australian coast just as the Japanese military begins to bomb the town of Darwin. Along the journey, Ashley and Drover fall in love in an epic story that sheds light on a little known battle of WWII.
Like I said, both Kidman and Jackman had a wonderful and interesting story to work within. For the most part, both deliver what you'd expect in terms of acting prowess. Although Kidman's arc from aristocrat to bushwhacker is engaging while the relationship grows with Jackman's Drover, the inconsistent tempo doesn't give either actor the time to concentrate of chemistry. However, and I'm not saying this "just because" of the nearly three-hour running time, Baz Luhrmann had too much ground to cover as if he was actually attempting to cross the Outback himself (which he did during production).
Back to the major factor why I now believe Australia didn't work as effectively ...
 After watching Australia, I remembered when we were on-hand during the press tour in L.A. where both Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were sharing thoughts about their experiences in the Outback and driving for hours in the heat to reach location. Upfront, I'm not giving anyone a pass on this, including Baz Lurhmann. But since there was a certain depth missing from the chemistry of Kidman and Jackman, and the film spent too much time in various locations and not enough in others, it now feels as though the harsh conditions of the Outback and the blazing heat may have been a huge factor in the final result of Australia. First, Nicole Kidman was pregnant at the time of shooting, fainted on one occasion, revealing what everyone went though in the Outback. "We’ve got photos of the whole crew living in these little tents and extreme heat. And as an actor working - obviously I’m very fair skinned and - that’s not where I’m at ease, put it that way ... Baz had spelled it out. 'It’s going to be really tough.’ And being in that, also, on top of that, the costumes, in terms of the restriction of them - I mean, CM uses everything that’s real. So the materials and everything is - it’s wool, it’s leather."
As for Hugh Jackman, who also fainted while sitting on a horse dressed in heavy period wardrobe, the conditions on set were indeed as tough as Luhrmann stated. "You know, we had dust storms. We had, I think, the first recorded rain in the dry season in a hundred years. If there had been rain a hundred years ago, we had twice the amount they had a hundred years ago. We had a thing called equine flu, which, I don’t know about you guys. I never heard of it before. Basically it’s horses catching a cold, but it never happened before in Australia. It happens in other countries, and so the entire horse industry shut down any movement of any horses. And when you’re making a movie in the Outback, it’s not a great thing."
The harsh environmental conditions of the Outback aren't an excuse for a less-than-effective film, there have been worse location challenges over the years, but I do believe they played a factor and took their toll on the production. After watching Australia, the lost potential and missed opportunity from such a talented A-list collective now makes a bit more sense. In the end, however, who knows for sure?
 As a DVD, Australia is almost a "film only" disc since two brief deleted scenes serve as the extras on the disc. Although standard behind-the-scenes features have gotten long-in-the-tooth, given how the conditions in the Outback were tough during the shoot, on this one it would have been great for fans to see what the cast and crew went through to make the film. At the very least it would have added a bit more perspective. At nearly three hours, Australia is an investment that pays off mostly in casting and stunning cinematography. Given the star power, landscape, and story value, there are several high notes in Australia but not from sequence to sequence in its efficient connectivity. It's not quite as thrilling as hopping on a plane and touching down in Sydney for the first time, but it may feel like the travel time of the flight.
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox
RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2009
FEATURES:
Deleted Scenes
|
