Review: Australia (spoilers)

Baz Luhrmann's Australia strives to be the Outback Gone With The Wind to the point of strain. Like its predecessor, it has a pouty heroine, an iconoclastic hero, a war that leaves a city in flames, a Hamlet-like death toll, and horse drama. Unlike GWTW, it features as among its musical themes a Bach tune that is among the loveliest in the world, and which it unfortunately imbues with carnal meaning. 

And there is the magic. Not the ala-peanut-butter-and-sandwiches variety, the real deal. The sort that freezes stampeding cattle mid-snort, that explains seeming teleportation. The proposition that Aborigines were gifted with magical skills deprived from other peoples is pretty much take-it-or-leave-it. Taking it won't necessarily lead you down the path of fruitless alchemy, it could simply mean that you are willing to co-exist with the myths of Australia that have sustained its people for 99.5% of the years that land has been inhabited by humans. 

The same could be said about the work of Baz Luhrmann -- take it or leave it. One person who definitely said "leave it" was my dad, who Shakespeare in hand, screamed at Leonardo di Caprio, "My sword! How can your gun be a sword!" I've been much more charitable. Cartoonish as Simply Ballroom may have been, it had a supremely winning egalitarian spirit notwithstanding its toffs vs. the hoi polloi theme. Moulin Rouge was less endearing, but it had life and verve, and made the oft-forgotten point that pop culture of the 1890s was not much different from the 1990s. 

Unlike Luhrmann's earlier films, Australia has an additional layer of critic-proof. It is, ostensibly, the embodiment of the nation of Australia, its history and culture. I did not get the sense that it was designed for an audience outside of Australia, and that motive makes it harder to render a judicious critical assessment. Its like critiquing an Independence Day parade. Judge ye the costumes tacky, the marching band unsynchronized, the fireworks pallid, yet the spirit of patriotism and the familiarity with how the symbols align with indigenous memes do not readily translate into an aesthetic measure. A Western secular humanist may scoff how easily Australia accomodates the possibility of magic, yet to mock that is to mock the historic tradition that informs that plot point. 

I obviously have little working knowledge with the Australian way of life, yet what I do know left me ultimately pleasantly disposed to Australia. Notice how very little of our stereotypes of Australia finds its way into the film. No koalas, dingos or emus, and the kangaroo sighting is humorously fleeting. No boomerangs, no "mates!", no Waltzing Matilda, no Ned Kelly, no Paul Hogan or Yahoo Serious. 

Luhrmann celebrates a different Australia than we are familiar with, one heavily influenced by the Aboriginal people, their culture and their tension with the white settlers whose descendants we now primarily associate with the country. The history of race in that country the last 200 years is sad, and one which threatens to despoil the foundation story of the modern Australia. I think Australia exhibits genius in proposing a workable narrative for Australians to reconcile with their modern past, one which is more liberal, unpatronizing and inclusionist than anticipated. Luhrmann's vision of Australia may be more aspirational than what conditions on the ground allow, yet it is highly likeable. If it takes root, perhaps Luhrmann can be deployed to the Middle East and work his magic over there. 

(Australia. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown (!), David Ngoombujarra and Brandon Walters)