Australia, the movie

We've been to see the recently released movie 'Australia', which seems to have been in the news and in production for the 2+ years that we've been here. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, it's carried the expectation of the Australian film industry and has been long awaited, with hopes of Oscar success as well.

However, it's truly awful! It's a cliched melodrama which is overblown and overacted and quite cringe inducing to sit through, particularly Nicole Kidman's character, which may be the result of her interpretation of a well-off Englishwoman, or the directors. Maybe we missed the whole concept of the film as a vast expansive drama to reflect the Australian country and history, but it seemed poorly written and made, with some questionable special effects which look dated, or stylised in a unique way!

There were a few great scenes of the landscape but the rest of it was complete tosh! The ending was to accompanied by the rousing English piece, 'Nimrod' by Elgar, which seemed completely out of place for the location and the scene. Still, some members of the audience clapped at the end, although we weren't sure if they actually enjoyed the film or were responding to the final credits about the mistreatment of the Aborigines and the apology made to the 'stolen generations' by the PM earlier this year. We assumed it must have been the latter...