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December 11, 2008
Posted: 1318 GMT
The epic is a rare creature indeed in contemporary cinema. Which is a shame because, with the exception of the action blockbuster, it is the movie genre most suited to the big screen. 
An inappropriately dressed Lady Sarah Ashley arrives in Darwin looking like she is ready for a couple of weeks on the French Riviera.
 The latest director to step up to the dizzying task of producing one of these motion picture mammoths is Australian Baz Luhrmann. Historical drama “Australia” is set , unsurprisingly, in Australia just before the outbreak of World War II. At something like $130 million it is the most expensive film in Australia’s history. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, two of the country’s most famous Hollywood exports, the picture is an identifiably Australian epic. With these credentials, it is no surprise 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film, has been pushing hard for awards glory, although the film and its stars were absent from this week’s Golden Globe nominations. Despite some pretty hysterical anticipation from fiercely patriotic Aussies, the film, which had a lukewarm critical reception, has failed to perform that strongly at the box office in either Australia or the U.S. Certainly, there is a lot to like. Nicole Kidman plays English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley — a winningly contradictory combination of uptight and feisty — who travels to Australia to her husband’s remote cattle ranch. A series of incidents throws her together with rough hewn Aussie bloke, Drover (played by Jackman and his impressive upper body musculature) and together they embark on an epic journey across Australia to save her land from a takeover plot. As we have come to expect from Luhrmann, “Australia” is exquisitely visualized. The sets for Lady Sarah’s estate house are built in painstaking detail (there is even a tennis court) by Luhrmann’swife and long-time collaborator, Catherine Martin who had to transport everything to the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia. Luhrmann shoots much of it in the magical dusk hours, showing the sets and the extraordinary landscape to their full advantage. Kidman’s wardrobe is also a delight: the pith helmet, gauzed netting and strange wire spectacles she wears on her initial trip to “Faraway Downs” are fabulously OTT. They say more about her incongruousness in the dusty, gruff frontier land of 1930s Australia than 10 lines of dialogue — which can be cringingly cheesy at times. It is here that “Australia” film falls down somewhat, for despite its technical brilliance, it doesn’t quite work. It could be because Lurhmann leaps from genre to genre — the Drover’s pub brawl at the start is pure spaghetti Western; at other times the narrative veers so far off into kitsch melodrama that you expect the characters to burst into song. All this to-ing and fro-ing undermines the dramatic punch, mainly because melodrama’s homely comforts sit uneasily on an epic canvas. But, then what defines an epic? In times past, they were easy to spot. They were historical films with a broad sweep like “Ben Hur” and “Lawrence of Arabia.” They dealt with big events in big landscapes and featured even bigger stars. An element of romance, or war, was often thrown in the mix too. Although traditional epics are still made today, such as Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” in 2000 and 2004’s “Troy” starring Brad Pitt, their massive budgets make them risky investments. Get it right like James Cameron did with “Titanic,” which was the first film to cross $1 billion in box-office receipts, and you have a work of massive prestige and profit. Get it wrong and the result is Michael Cimino’s infamous 1980 Western “Heaven’s Gate” — now a byword for excess and perfectionism — that went so far over budget it almost bankrupted the studio, United Artists. “Australia” certainly isn’t “Heaven’s Gate” and it probably won’t be “Titanic” either, but it is still a hugely visual film that, despite its flaws, still makes for a great cinema-going experience. Luhrmann should be congratulated for his work conserving this rare cinematic breed. What’s your favorite epic movie? Posted by: CNN screening room digital producer, Mairi Mackay
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The Screening Room brings you the inside track on all aspects of the movie business around the globe. Find out what goes on behind the scenes as we cover major film festivals and premieres and meet the directors and actors that matter.  Recent Posts
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