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บล็อกที่มีข้อมูลภายในและความคิดเห็นส่วนตัวจากสมาชิก GRN ทั่วโลก

It's all about story

David Miller - Tuesday 02 December 2008

My wife, Katrina, and I went and saw Baz Luhrman's latest film, Australia last night for our 13th wedding anniversary. We are great fans of Baz's films so we were looking forward to this one.

As Nicole Kidman said when interviewed by Oprah, Baz is a romantic and a story teller. And Australia is a big romantic movie (in all senses of the word) with many stories interwoven.

Nicole Kidman plays Lady Sarah Ashley who travels from England to the Northern Territory of Australia in 1939 at the beginning of World War II to sort out what her husband is really doing on their cattle station. Hugh Jackman is Drover, who has been hired by Lord Ashley to drove their cattle to Darwin. There are a swag of other well known and not so well known Aussie actors in this movie, with the standout being Brandon Walters as Nullah, the half Aboriginal, half white young boy who captures Lady Sarah's heart.

It's a huge picture, and quite long, but not outstandingly so. Baz Luhrmann is an outstanding director, and there are some fantastic and creative shots in the movie. One that stands out to me is an overhead shot of the water tower that pans out to us seeing the road running diagonally off the screen and then a car appears driving away. Fantastic! He captures the Australian light, size, colour, dryness and dramatic changes well.

But I want to comment on the stories, because that is what Baz seems to be about, and that is what we, GRN is about.

Australia is unashamedly about story. Nullah states so up front. He narrates for us a story about a woman, Lady Sarah, who comes into his world. That is part of Aboriginal culture. The Aboriginal story of the Lost Generations is another story told in the film - how half-caste children were stolen from their mothers to be brought up by missions (yes, usually the church) so that the Aboriginal breeding could becast out of them. Sarah is repulsed by the presuppositions of the time. Whether this is realistic, is doubtful. Would landed gentry from the UK at that time really be so appalled by such acts? 

There is the story of Lady Sarah, her trip, the love story between her and Drover, her love for Nullah, her desire to solve a financial crisis. It is the story, as Nullah puts it, of the healing of the land as she comes there.

There is the story of Nullah himself. His name could be after the land formations of the area, could be something from a local Aboriginal language, but I'm guessing Baz wants us to see his name as 'nothing', reminicisent of 'Terra Nullis' when Australia was decreed to be empty by the British. Nullah is not seen as Black or White, as nothing. But his mother, and Grand Father care for him. It is the story of his coming to manhood.

It is the story of the change in the landscape as the rain comes. 

It is the story of the bombing of Darwin. The worst military attack on Australian soil, shown graphically on the screen.

It is the story of Drover, who is seen as a outcast because of his love of the Black people.

It is the story of greed and corruption by landowners.

All these, and no doubt more, stories are woven through the film. Story is the theme of Australia. It is about people living their story  - a post-modern, X-gen concept, espoused in the film by the Aboriginal characters. It may very well be their world view too, that we all have a story, to live. The theme at the beginning of the movie is something like 'To live in fear, is not to live at all.' So the film is about challening us to have a 'story' - a theme picked up by the com see Australia ads.

There are no great stories of Christian redemption in the film. In fact the use of Aboriginal 'magic' is somewhat concerning, and there is a fair amount of reliance of the use of 'singing' to call people etc. However we can see compassion, and a willingness to act against wrong. What are the source of these acts? 

In Australia the film has an M rating mostly for the violence from the bombing of Darwin, a couple of fight scenes, and probably the shooting of an animal. There is a very small amount of offensive language, a lot of kissing, and a mild sex scene.

So I commend the film to you as an example of story telling. It isn't just visual. Nullah tells you the story. And that's what we at Global Recordings Network are doing, 'Telling the story of Jesus in every language'. We are seeking to tell the most powerful story ever told, the story of the redemption of mankind, in every language, to all people. That is more epic than even Australia!

Download the trailer of Australia here http://www.australiamovie.net/multimedia/VIDEOaustraliamoviedotnet34.zip