Over the Rainbow
Written: Jan 31 '09 (Updated Feb 02 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smidgens of pictorial geography and written history.
Cons: Eyeball shine-back in some scenes.
The Bottom Line: This is the way movies ought to be made: a panorama of events in which the actors develop their memorable characters to a tee.
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| topreviewerman's Full Review: Australia |
An older gentleman told me in the ticket line that this is a great movie, and having seen it I quite agree. Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) flies from England to the Northern Territory being suspicious of her husband Maitland's doings with the (friendly) aborigines, to be met by "Drover" (Hugh Jackman) who is to escort her to their spread called appropriately Faraway Downs. Maitland's bond is rather to the land and the cattle business where he runs afoul of crooked dealings and whose death is witnessed by mulatto child Nullah. Nullah has his own problems avoiding the police who seek to forcibly remove all such mulatto children to the mission school. Lady Ashley must form an unlikely alliance with Drover to move the cattle—against crooked opposition—all on the verge of war breaking out with Japan.
What makes Australia so appealing is that it is viewed and narrated in large part by the child who tells us the most important thing is to "tellum story." We are quite fascinated by his perspective and rightly shocked that anyone would want to take him away to "lock lock." OK, police brutality, that we can understand, but to have it aided by the church? Perhaps a word is in order here to see where they went wrong. In the Gospels—which they should have been familiar with—we can read of Jesus: (Matt. 19:13-15) "Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence."
The disciples were rebuking Jesus for thinking to minister to the children. Similarly, the church in Australia at that time was blocking the ordinary ministrations to those children so they could be segregated into mission schools and taught English mores and manners, making them conformable to white society and eventual marriage to whites, so "breeding the Black out of them." Such rebuke did not find favor with the Lord who thought His disciples had it all bass-ackwards, because "of such [children] is the kingdom of God."
OK, that's what the church should understand, but from the perspective of the movie we are quite taken by little Nullah, and if there is some better place that we can all aspire to belong to, why, Nullah would seem to be already there. Because of the introduction of a classic period movie within this movie we can alternately define that place as Somewhere Over the Rainbow and not miss a beat, if we want to keep religion per se at arm's length.
While we have our Bibles open to Matthew, though, and strictly from a literary point of view comparing one story to another, we might as well read along a little further: (Matt. 19:16-19) "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
There's the question of the good guys. Why do we call them good? Our heroes in this story, Lady Ashley—"not a bad looking Sheila"—and Drover, they are hardly perfect. The one, Mrs Boss as she came to be known, had her share of pride, so much so that her opposition kept pointing out that "pride isn't power." As for Drover, well, he is the "good man" that Maitland sent to meet her but was delayed by a fisticuffs bar fight. He has a bit of a temper. But it makes our heroes seem like real people. As for the question in the Gospel itself, why call Jesus good when only God is good, I'm going to leave it to the reader's discretion whether he wants to answer that one.
The list of commandments. There is no enumerated list as such in the movie "Australia," but, and this is a big but, the villainy that the lion's share of the movie is concerned with is a list itself, in fact the same list. Maitland's corrupt hired hand Neil Fletcher takes up most of that list all by himself, starting with, "Thou shalt do no murder." He's the one who murdered Maitland, and eventually murders Carney the cattle baron, and would even murder his unacknowledged son Nullah who represents his violating another commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." As for "Thou shalt not steal," who do you think has been taking the unbranded fat Downs cattle across the river to the Carney spread? We come next to "Thou shalt not bear false witness," which he did in trying to frame aborigine King George the grandfather of Nullah for Maitland's murder. The last one on the list is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Neil is out for his own interests period. The only one of those commandments he doesn't cover in violation is, "Honour thy father and thy mother" which responsibility the church and police get as they hardly consult the mothers before forcibly removing the mulatto children from them, and we see how Nullah's mother felt about them taking him: over my dead body.
Eventually we are brought to a major theme point of the movie. (Matt. 19:20-24) "The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Mr Carney is this huge cattle baron; he owns everything in the North Territory except Faraway Downs. But the only ones we think we might like to emulate to live somewhere over the rainbow are little Nullah for whom "in the end the only thing you really own is your story" and his medicine man grandfather who has it more together than any of them though he seems to live on nothing. That brings us to Mr Carney; though he had so much, he wasn't an over-the-rainbow living kind of guy. He was too controlled by his money and his desire for more. Even if he'd managed to avoid running afoul of that list of commandments, there was something basically lacking in his life. He had too much money. We get a picture of it when he tries to thread a camel through the eye of a needle, or as portrayed in the movie when he needs to load the big metal ship in a hurry with a huge heard of cattle squeezed through a narrow little chute. They just ain't gonna make it, and even if they could, that would be easier than for a rich man like him to enter the kingdom of heaven. There's a whole big buildup to this scene which I'll just save for you to appreciate.
Since this movie does deal with a little bit of history and with some spiritual lessons especially regarding money, I'll point out a little more background for anyone interested, and if you're not, just skip ahead to the next paragraph in my review. The action takes place in 1939, then Christmas of 1939 (which is summer down there) and into an invasion by Japan. At Christmas a movie is shown playing, a classic American movie which made its way down there, "Wizard of Oz" starring Judy Garland. We see shots of some well known scenes. Some of you probably know what that movie was based on historically, or you can find out from a search engine. It was legislation that took America off the gold standard, like The Gold Reserve Act of 1933 that make it illegal to use gold coins as currency. The message of "Oz" was we'd need to have heart, courage, and brains to get back to something real, that without the gold standard our currency had nothing behind it like the phony wizard, the very word oz standing for the measure of weight of gold coins, and the yellow brick road being gold bullion. Without that gold standard, we'd end up with massive amounts of empty currency making it all the harder for rich Yanks to live any kind of idyllic American dream. I thought I'd throw that in because it might be a useful lesson today.
To finish up from the Gospel, (Matt. 19:25-26) "When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." This concept is illustrated pretty well in the closing scenes trying to flee the Japanese invasion. Looks impossible, but that's a good time to rely on God. As the one fellow said to another, "The Lord delivered us but we can do with a ride, sir," to which the other answered, "I'm not Jesus Christ, but I'll give it a try."
For anyone of a religious bent viewing this movie, I'll tell you how I dealt with the scenes depicting stiff drinks as a help to get by. These can be viewed allegorically. The alcoholic accountant of Faraway Downs is the only one who knows what's happening with the finances. The movie shows him hiding his hooch behind a Bible. Sometimes it's only someone who reads the Bible can figure out what's going on. At the several places where people are shown having a drink even though it's technically against the rules, I can say that represents a quick look at scriptures even though there be a stigma attached to reading the Bible in some circumstances. That's just how it works for me, but if you're comfortable with people taking a stiff drink as needed, you'll feel right at home with "Australia."
What becomes very touching is the way the two main characters bond with each other and as father and mother figures for little Nullah. Neither of them on the surface seems to be parent material, but we perceive they do just fine. We also see how the boy needs both parents, the mother for mothering and the father so he doesn't get smothered. The grandfather also has a role, not of interference but to be there at crucial times as needed. The natural father, however, can be relegated to the category of sperm donor, not so much needed as needed protection from.
This is the kind of movie that gives you a good feeling that will stay with you after it's over. If I've seemed to skim on some of the details it's because the value of the movie is how it works as a whole which can't be conveyed by reciting details alone. If I'm in line for the movies and I see someone get a ticket for "Australia," I'd be inclined to tell him it's a great one just as that gentleman did to me. I highly recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
topreviewerman
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Member: Earl Gosnell
Location: Eugene, OR
Reviews written: 80
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
BSEE, U. of Cincinnati. Ordained minister, United Congregation of Friends. Poet Laureate, Longfellow, Colorado.
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