PLOT
Australia is the story of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), a highly strung English aristocrat who leaves England in 1938 to follow her husband to Australia. He is in Australia with the intention of selling his cattle station. However, Lady Ashley believes he is having an affair and travels out there to confront him. The cattle station is located in the far north of Australia, and when she arrives she find herself in a strange land; her husband is dead and her only assets are a piece of land the size of Belgium and two thousand head of cattle.
Lady Ashley is forced to unite with a rough, hewn cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) in order to protect her ranch from a takeover plot. Over the next four years, the story follows these two characters as they undertake an epic cattle drive across the Australian landscape. When they finally reach their destination, they are caught up in the first of the Japanese bombings of Darwin during World War II (1942). During the course of her epic journey, Lady Ashley falls in love with the drover, and the Australian landscape, and realises that her life is not over, and there's always a new life to be had. The title Australia is intended to sum up the story of her life - her journey, the landscape, and the people she meets - all of which transform her life forever.
The title of Australia was chosen over Great Southern Land and Faraway Downs, the name of the homestead in the film. Luhrmann said, "I'm taking the perspective of the rest of the world to this film how they might view Australia. When you say Casablanca or Oklahoma! it means big. It means vast... I'm not saying this film is Australia. It's a metaphor for a state of mind, for the faraway."
"The film is not didactically about this country - the title represents the main character's journey, her state of mind. While she is there, the landscape, people and experiences of this faraway exotic country bring renewal to her life."
Compiled
for Baz the Great
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