Australia

Baz Lurmann | Australia 2008 | 165 min

Australia tells the story of an English aristocrat lady who in northern Australia at the beginning of the second world war, travels to Australia to sell the inherited huge cattle station 'Faraway Downs'. She also wants to check up on her husband who she suspects of having an affair.

But her husband is murdered just before she arrives, and the station manager Neil Fletcher intends to take over.

She sacks the manager and reluctantly joins forces with a rough stockman to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land to Darwin.

Arriving in Darwin they face the bombing by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.

The Aboriginal boy Nullah lives on the outback cattle property of the lady and becomes a central figure in the relationship between her and the local drover. She takes a maternal role in the boy's life.

Maybe, we say, the world is ready to finally hear this story. The story told so long and by so many others, and now again through the eyes of this whitefella Luhrmann, who followed their footsetps into the desert for a while, and just sat, and listnend. —Baz Luhrmann about Baz Luhrmann [1]

Cast	Indigenous actors are bolded. Nicole Kidman Hugh Jackman Brandon Walters David Gulpilil Bryan Brown David Wenham Jack Thompson John Jarratt Barry Otto Shea Adams Ray Barrett Tony Barry Jamal Bednarz-Metallah Damian Bradford Nathin Butler Tara Carpenter Rebecca Chatfield Lillian Crombie Max Cullen Essie Davis Arthur Dignam Lillian Crombie Ursula Yovich David Ngoombujarra Lady Sarah Ashley Drover young Nullah (Aboriginal boy) King George (Nullah's grandfather) King Carney (cattle country owner) Neil Fletcher (station manager) Kipling Flynn (accountant) Sergeant Administrator Allsop Carney Boy #3 Bull Sergeant Callahan Mission Boy Constable #1 Carney Boy #1 Essential Services Woman Magarri's Niece Bandy Legs Old Drunk Cath Carney Father Benedict Bandy Legs (carer for young Nullah) Daisy (carer for young Nullah) Magarri
Release dates	18th November 2008 - world premiere (Kununurra, Darwin, Bowen, Sydney) 26 November 2008 - Australia, USA 25 December 2008 - Germany and most of Europe 8 January 2009 - Argentina 23 January 2009 - Brazil 12 February 2009 - Russia 28 February 2009 - Japan
Video/DVD Release Date	not available
Awards	not available
Rating	PG-13 - some violence, a scene of sensuality, brief strong language
Language level	not available
Distributor	not available
Soundtrack	Anton Monsted
Genre	Epic, romantic action-adventure
Notes	Baz Luhrmann is 'heavily supportive' of Aboriginal people and has consulted extensively as to not cause any distress in how he presents the issue of the Stolen Generations. Contrary to Luhrmann's sensitivity, Nicole Kidman showed her ignorance of Aboriginal customs when she blew the didgeridoo in a German TV show which promoted Australia. An Aboriginal cultural leader warned Kidman that she will have no more children after breaking a taboo against women playing the didgeridoo. Many of the extras of Australia were Stolen Generations members. Critics of Australia argue that the movie does not adequately show the misery Aboriginal workers had to endure on cattle stations. "[The] treatment that we used to get in the station was more like treating human being like a dog," Billy Bunter says, one of the few men still alive who worked for the British-owned Vesteys cattle company which was in the centre of the Wave Hill strike of 1966 for better wages [2]. 11-year-old Brandon Walters plays a young Aboriginal musterer, a role Baz Luhrmann describes as 'substantial'. Brandon hadn't acted before. Walters' portrayal of Nullah mesmerised audiences across the world, but we should not forget to look beyond the beauty of Aboriginal children. Aaron Pedersen was to play the adult Nullah, but his role and storyline was omitted from the final film. Australia is one of the most expensive movies ever produced in Australia with an estimated budget of AU$150 million. Locations: Sydney, Bowen, Darwin and Kununurra.
Find this movie	Indigenous film suppliers and distributors

[What had me mesmerised] was seeing great Indigenous Australian actors up there on the big screen and finally, seeing in a movie something that you recognise about yourself and your country. —Mahala Strohfeldt, Aboriginal journalist, Koori Mail [1]

Where to from here?

• Learn about Aboriginal culture
• What the Stolen Generations are all about
• Check out the Stolen Generations timeline

[1] 'Big story has a big heart!', Koori Mail 440 p.12 [2] 'Indigenous mistreatment the untold story of Luhrmann's Australia', ABC Online 7/10/2008