Australia

He called it his 8220;Red Curtain8221; style of movie-making, requiring just a few basics: that the audience knows how the film will end when it begins, that the storyline is extremely thin and simple 8212; it8217;s a heightened, created world 8212; and that there8217;s dancing or singing to keep the audience involved.

And then he made a departure, with Australia. Baz Luhrmann8217;s latest film, an epic of three-hour proportions and the costliest film ever made Down Under, is different from his previous works, and in all the wrong ways. You can guess how it will end, only every time we get there, Luhrmann finds another way to keep going; the storyline is thin and simple, but the writer-director keeps finding ways to string it along; Australia is captured in all its vastness and beauty, but is jettisoned in the final moments for war scenes that could have been shot anywhere.

The tragedy is that this is a film that almost fits the bill of what Luhrmann always sets out to do 8211; entertain. As Lady Sarah Ashley Kidman comes down from England to the Outback chasing her husband who she suspects is up to no good, Luhrmann is at his best. Her incredulity, the sheer difference in the two cultures, as seen in the person of Drover Jackman, the difficulties and peculiarities of an Australia riven by its own racial divide, and the harshness of nature 8211; the director brings it out effortlessly.

Luhrmann, who belongs to Australia 8211; like Kidman and Jackman others considered for the role were co-country mates Russell Crowe and Heath Ledger 8211; shows an understanding of his country tinged by a loving eye.

The story is told in the words of a 8220;half-caste8221; boy 8212; half Aborigine, half white 8212; who will be sent away to be raised by the Church if found by cops. Every time a vehicle comes driving to the ranch owned by Sarah8217;s husband, the boy, called Nullah, hides in a water-tank. His mother, forced to sleep with the ranch8217;s manager, drowns while hiding in one.

Luhrmann captures the tragedy of their lives as simply as he does their deep association with the land through Nullah8217;s grandfather, a magic man who watches over them. Smeared in ash, standing on a leg, he may be a clicheacute;, but you never doubt the strength of that magic.

Luhrmann then takes it up one more gear when Sarah decides to take on businessman Carney Brown who controls the supply of beef to the armed forces. With war near, it8217;s a lucrative business. Sarah has on her hands some 1,500 head of prime cattle and the contract would be hers if only she can herd them across thousands of miles to the wharf in Darwin.

This can sound complicated, but watch out for how Luhrmann deftly establishes the plot in one walk by Sarah, off the plane from England, across a plank and into a bar, juxtaposing different characters doing different things and ending with her abruptly introduced to what life away from genteel England could be.

With her husband murdered and Carney determined to destroy her, Sarah employs the help of Drover who, no surprises, knows the Outback like the back of his hand, is as Aboriginal as a white man can be and can ride a horse, tame one, fight singlehandedly and do anything else one can ask for.

The herding of those cattle across the vast plains is an exhilarating ride, including thrills, chills, danger, edge-of-the-cliff literally excitement, romance and a bond that springs up between Sarah, who can8217;t have children, and Nullah, who has nobody. And yes, you know how that one ends.

However, Luhrmann goes on, into domesticity, World War II and briefly skips over racialism, during which everyone is almost presumed dead. Not only does this part lack the flair and naturalness of the first half, it8217;s forced, weak in script and dialogue and shows up all of Jackman8217;s weaknesses. He can be dashing, he can be funny, but he can8217;t be a moaning lover. Even Nullah, who is delightful as the sprightly kid who knows almost everything, but remains after all just a kid, becomes almost irritating in his earnestness.

It8217;s only Kidman8217;s star power who holds up the two parts. She went through motherhood during the filming and the conscious effort to underline her love for the child is visible. Perhaps too visible. Still if Luhrmann believes in saying it through visuals, there8217;s hardly a better treat for the eyes. If only the director ended with her riding triumphantly into town at the head of thousands of cattle.

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