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Australia Details

2008 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 27,536 members

MOULIN ROUGE's Baz Luhrman and Nicole Kidman reteam for this epic that pays homage to their homeland. In AUSTRALIA, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) is a prim and proper Englishwoman who journeys to Australia in the years before World War II reached the country's shores. She is determined to have her estranged husband sell his cattle .. Read more

Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Jack Thompson
Director Baz Luhrmann
Genres Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, Drama, Romance

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Australia

MOULIN ROUGE's Baz Luhrman and Nicole Kidman reteam for this epic that pays homage to their homeland. In AUSTRALIA, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) is a prim and proper Englishwoman who journeys to Australia in the years before World War II reached the country's shores. She is determined to have her estranged husband sell his cattle ranch to a monopoly-craving businessman named King Carney (Bryan Brown), but when she arrives, Lord Ashley is dead, and her plan to sell the ranch changes when she sees an employee named Fletcher (David Wenham) cheating her husband's business and mistreating a young boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters) because he is of mixed race. Urged on by both pride and a sense of justice, Lady Ashley wants to drive her herd of cattle to Darwin so she can sell them to the troops, but she'll require the help of an independent cowboy (fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman) to get them there.


AUSTRALIA changes genres almost as much as Kidman's character changes from fantastic costume to fantastic costume (courtesy of Luhrman's wife and collaborator, Catherine Martin). The film begins as a fish-out-of-water comedy, then changes into a Western, then morphs into a romance, and it finishes as a World War II drama. But in this genre-bending epic, there's something for everyone, especially for fans of Jackman. The actor has rarely looked better, and there's plenty of opportunity for him to show that he can be an action star as well as a romantic lead in the mould of the Golden Age stars. The film itself harks back to classic Hollywood, at times resembling essentials such as GONE WITH THE WIND and THE AFRICAN QUEEN. And fans of THE WIZARD OF OZ will enjoy seeing how the beloved film works its way into AUSTRALIA's plot and score.

Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown
Director Baz Luhrmann
Studio 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 45 mins
Blu-ray: 2 hrs 38 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Collections 100 Hot Hits, 100 Most Wanted, Muller's Indulgent Movies, UK top 50 weekly chart
Genres Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, Drama, Romance
Language DVD: English, English Audio Description
Blu-ray: English, English Audio Description
Released DVD: 27 Apr 2009
Blu-ray: 27 Apr 2009
Production year: 2008
Format DVD
  • Most helpful member's review of Australia

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  • 117 out of 118 people found this review helpful

    * * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

    Rated - 4 stars

    Beautiful scenery and people... and a very Mills and Boon storyline

      • A customer from CARDIFF
  • Most recent members' review of Australia

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    unexpected

    i did not know what to expect from this film and at the beginning it looked like 'a transportation story' until the main characters started coming on the scene one by one and an absolute surprise followed totally unexpected.

    from there on in, it became a different kind of cowboy story, interesting and illuminating.

    i did enjoy this film and exciting to see how the love interest between kidman and jackman worked out - cracking! - i would say, some might even consider rating it a 5 star performance but four is quite objective for me.

    it thought me a thing or two more about the aussie way of doing things.

      • faith from London
  • News and features

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    Grace

    Jackman heals rift with mum

    • 22 Nov 2009

    Hugh Jackman has healed the longrunning rift with his mum after she walked out on him as a kid - the pair has been spending time together in New York. The Aussie star's dad was left to look after Jackman and his four siblings after his mum Grace moved out of the family home when he was eight years old. Grace and her estranged husband, Chris, later agreed Jackman's sisters would be raised in their mum's native England, while Jackman and his two brothers stayed in Australia with their father.... Read more

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Rating breakdown

27,536 Member ratings
  • 100
3,863
  • 90
2,131
  • 80
7,104
  • 70
4,980
  • 60
4,353
  • 50
1,673
  • 40
1,560
  • 30
544
  • 20
849
  • 10
479

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