Australia: a surprise

Gimpy

Gimpy

The Living Force
It's been a few months since my Hubby and I have gone to a movie. This one includes two of our favorite actors, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, so we decided to go over the weekend, and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

A few reviews said it was like "Gone with the Wind", which I've never seen. A couple others said it was an Aussie Western, and it is that. Its also a war movie, and makes several long overdue statements about race relations Down Under. It's even a good example of ponerization and the consequences of standing up to it.

The big surprise? A subtle cameo by 6th density, one that had me open mouthed at one point, then clamping my hands over my mouth so I didn't laugh like a donkey.

For me, it was a sublime experience. Would anyone else see it that way? I don't know.

It's a good story, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the director wasn't heavy handed on the 'eye candy', making sure it didn't over take the narrative.

All in all, a wonderful movie! :D



Gimpy
 
I just watched it last night and I'm still absorbing it. It was a Wizard of Oz movie. It was interesting how happy and relieved I felt at the final ending. I'll have to watch it again soon. I think there's much to this movie. The cinematography was worth watching alone.
 
Okay so I watched it finally. It was certainly an interesting and well-made movie. Cinematography was excellent, and I loved the continual Wizard of Oz references (and theme music). I have to say I didn't pick up on the subtle 6th Density cameo. I'd love it for someone to point it out to me!
 
I just watched this yesterday after reading this thread. It was really sweet and had me in tears a couple of times.

I still haven't picked up on the 6th D cameo either. Did I miss something?
 
"The Wizard of Oz" is referenced in the transcripts as being inspired by 6th Density. ;D
 
I've been thinking alot lately about family and roots and belonging and how isolated everyone really is and speculating about the deep effects and how it's ungraspable (is that a word?). This movie fit right in. Nulla was always home. If you liked this one, there was another movie i watched awhile ago called the Rabbit Fence. It was the true account of 2 native sisters who were taken from their home and sent to a missionary school to learn to become 'civcilized' and how they escaped, walking for something like a thousand miles along a rabbit fence to get home. At the end of the movie, it stated that as an adult, the same thing happened to the children of one of the escapee sisters and she walked AGAIN the same distance to get her children. Now that's a Mamma.
 
Gimpy said:
"The Wizard of Oz" is referenced in the transcripts as being inspired by 6th Density. ;D
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Gimpy, yes I realise that the Cs said that the Wizard of Oz was inspired by 6th Density, but at which point were you "open-mouthed" and nearly laughing? Just curious.

Chachazoom, yes Rabbit-Proof Fence was another good movie which illustrates in painful clarity the totally heartless and shameful way in which British-colonised nations have treated the local indigenous populations. The sad part is that it was so common. Even to this day, Australia has people who are skeptical of the treatment the Aborigines received, despite extensive documentation proving how real it all was.
 
3D Resident said:
Gimpy said:
"The Wizard of Oz" is referenced in the transcripts as being inspired by 6th Density. ;D
Click to expand...

Gimpy, yes I realise that the Cs said that the Wizard of Oz was inspired by 6th Density, but at which point were you "open-mouthed" and nearly laughing? Just curious.
Click to expand...

A couple of moments, the first being when Nicole Kidman has to sing, and do it badly. (That's not easy to do) The others have to do with personal experiences echoed in the movie itself, and wouldn't make anyone else laugh, which is why I didn't explain more fully. :)

Even to this day, Australia has people who are skeptical of the treatment the Aborigines received, despite extensive documentation proving how real it all was.
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Yes, this also makes me wonder if this isn't the reason the movie didn't do as well in the states etc. Such scrutiny is no longer 'fashionable' here in the US. One of the many affects of ponerization, osit.
 
Indeed a surprise, I was going to avoid it until I've seen this thread.
Thank you, it was great fun. In fact thanks to this forum I haven't miss some great movies.
Definitely more soul and more action then Gone with the wind but I can see the resemblance

The visuals and sounds are absolutely stunning. The way how aborigines sing the animal to do their biding reminded me of Tolkien elves. I wonder is this just a leap of imagination to provide for richer story or they are really capable of this?! maybe someone who knows their culture better will give us more info.

When a cattle baron says "Its a poor war that doesn't make a decent patriot rich" - that's the best aphorism I've heard in a long time.
All in all :thup:.
 
Well, I'm sorry that I didn't find the movie THAT entertaining. I have a "movie test" - if Ark will watch it in one sitting. Otherwise, we watch movies in segments - maybe half one night before going to sleep and half the next night. Really long ones may be watched over three evenings. A really GOOD movie is one that Ark is willing to stay up and watch to the end.

Ark got bored with Australia pretty quick. So, we turned it off and went to sleep. The next night, we managed to watch it through to where Kidman and what's-'is-face got together and were on the ranch and the bad guy visits her and she says that "Drover mustn't know..." So, right there, neither of us wanted to watch anymore. That was it.

Kidman's acting was pedestrian at best - I just couldn't warm up to her. The kid was cute but not THAT cute and everything else was cliche or smarmy. I doubt that the representation of aboriginal life (and characters) was accurate. I guess the best part of the movie was the cinematography - but that was more like a David Attenborough "Living Planet" thing than anything else. In fact, I half expected him to leap into the scene wearing his bush outfit and a pith helmet and tell us all about what kinds of creatures Kidman and company really are and what they were doing there.

I would give it two stars for the plot and acting, but it makes it to three for the photography.
 
Laura said:
Kidman's acting was pedestrian at best - I just couldn't warm up to her.
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True, her "British" accent was so fake that it was irritating, but she does loosens a bit towards the end of the movie.
 
Corto Maltese said:
True, her "British" accent was so fake that it was irritating, but she does loosens a bit towards the end of the movie.
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To be fair, she is Australian so I don't know how much she has to "fake" a British accent, or even if that is the accent she was attempting to portray. Maybe she was just speaking with her natural Aussie accent?
 
The movie lakes profoundness but the graphics are ok, especially the air view of the port at the beggining. Maybe the only remarquable part is the arriving of war and how all what happened before became futile, and how everything changed all of a sudden. The end of the story at the end was too long and I didn't continue.
 
Hi mkrnhr, why did you erase your comment?

I also noticed what you noticed, and was interested to see the replies. It was a good mirror  ;)

EDIT: Okay now I'm just confused by your replacement comment...
 
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