Australia - a new film...

This last week, with my family, I saw “Australia.” I don’t quite know what to make of the movie. It was entertaining, and it had all of the romantic and epic elements of a 1950’s-era film, including the gallant rugged horseman, the aristocratic lady, and the spiritual native boy. Rather than those elements being injected for the sake of camp, I think the filmmaker, Baz Luhrmann, genuinely works within these conventions out of sincerity.

Provided we live in an age of taking previous conventions from the Modern-era, and we turn them on their head or turn them inside out, for me, it was hard to make whether or not “Australia” was a high-camp rendition on past conventions. Of course, then I thought of it, and there was no irony injected along with these ancient conventions. For example, looking at the film poster, there is no sense of irony to it.

Quite simply, “Australia,” a long narrative, could have been made in 1958 with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. Of course, they both would have had to acquire Aussie accents; nevertheless, that was the feeling I had leaving the film. It’s a palatable rendition, but for my money, it certainly was nothing new or thought-provoking. Moreover, I don’t like Luhrmann’s continuous injection of music—particularly Judy Garland sung songs from “The Wizard of Oz.” To me, it seemed as though this was projected towards three very specific audiences: women, children, and Judy Garland fans.