Romance, history, and a poignant look into the heart and soul of Australia

Do you love big, sweeping, Hollywood films full of romance, glorious lighting, heroes, beautiful heroines, drama, and suspense? Then go no further than Australia. Australia was my family’s Thanksgiving movie this past year. And we loved it! Too bad it didn’t stay in the theaters longer.

The story is based on events that happened in Australia after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and then went on to bomb Australia. Nicole Kidman plays a British Lady whose husband runs a cattle ranch in Australia. He is killed, and she is faced with getting her cattle to the coast so that she’ll have enough money to keep the ranch. Kidman’s character is full of piss and vinegar. And she is also very, very funny. I loved Nicole Kidman in this role. Her love interest, Hugh Jackman (one of my all time favorites), is rugged and fabulous as the cattle driver who helps her drive the cattle.

There’s another character who steals the show. A young Aboriginal boy who apparently had never acted before—and who Baz Luhrmann (the director) searched for for two years. This character and his grandfather—who is always nearby but out of sight in the hills—are the glue that holds the movie together. They represent the heart and soul of Australia. The racism between the whites and the natives of Australia also echoes the history of the United States. And the portrayal of the healing around this seemed very appropriate in the year that we elected a black president.

I went to this movie with a group of seven: two men and five women. The men liked it as much as the women. (My brother described the movie as a sort of chick flick with enough action to satisfy any man. He loved it.) So did we. I think you will too. It’s a real keeper.