Australia - the movie

I watched Australia at last. And there are more than one reasons for recommending the movie.

It has all the ingredients of a Baz Lhurmann movie (if anyone has watched Moulin Rouge) - grand sets, high drama and panoramic beauty. And for those mushy moments - the protagonists of the movie kiss and make up in a downpour. There is machoism too - horse riding and fistcuffs. The actors are beautiful - Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Most of all the movie showcases dramatic landscapes, a colourful cast of outback characters, abundant wartime heritage, rich aboriginal culture and mostly Darwin’s historic Stokes Hill Wharf.

The story line is quite simple - weaving of real history into fiction - seen before in movies such as Pearl Harbour and Gone With The Wind. The plot, however, has an interplot. The aborigines of the region and the 'stolen generation'.

As per Wikipedia - "The Stolen Generations (also Stolen generation and Stolen children) is a term used to describe those children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1869 and 1969, although, in some places, children were still being taken in the 1970s.

I wonder if the movie was made as an apology to the indigenous people of Northern Australia. After all, Baz Luhrmann, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman - are all Australians - presumably of colonial descent. For more read http://www.dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/index.cfm

Watch it for soaking in the beauty of the outback and sheer filming genius of Luhrmann.