Some people get drunk on fame, some on power, some on the usual stuff. Australian auteur Baz Luhrmann, gets drunk on storytelling. It's been fully obvious in each Bazmark production. Some filmmakers start slow, giving you time to settle in, as they describe the world, introduce the characters and set up the plot. Baz Luhrmann starts big and usually well past the first story beats. He's already buzzing. He expects you to catch up. Consider the anticipatory glee projected in the very first frames of the "red curtain trilogy" (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!). The mere act of opening the curtains seems to thrill the filmmaker. The red curtains are gone for his fourth film, the massive epic Australia, but the storyteller (if not the story) remain the same. Would you like to hear a story?
-Lady Ashley to a crying child
The film's first few absolutely gorgeous minutes suggest that we'll be seeing a child's adventure film. Our guide is Nullah (Brandon Walters), a "creamy" (half aboriginal, half white) who is walking with his grandfather, King George (David Gulpilil) when they chance upon a murder. Jumping forward in time, with Nullah still guiding us, we see him hiding at a cattle ranch called "Far Away Downs." Nullah, in voice over, introduces us to The Drover (Hugh Jackman) and Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) but Baz, behind the camera, only offers us tantalizing glimpses since Nullah peers at them between wooden slats. Nullah then informs us that we've missed the beginning of the story. True to Baz's form this prologue is not actually the beginning. We're whisked briefly to England for a fuller introduction to Sarah. One must have an explanation as to why she is whisked off to...
[cue titles] AUSTRALIA
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