REVIEW: Australia (2008) d. Baz Luhrmann

When I think of some of my favorite contemporary filmmakers (The Coen Brothers, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, and Baz Luhrmann) one word links them all and that is the term “Post-Modern.” These auteurs are among the generation of filmmakers who grew up with total access to the archive of world cinema, still, at the time of their respective youths, less than 100 years old. Such total access has empowered them to both learn and keep at their disposal proven techniques and story telling devices which find their way back into their personal body of work, not as an out and out rip off, but rather as pastiche of elements designed in homage to the masters. “When you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em,” “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and “I learned from the best” are phrases that subconsciously reflect such “sampling” and account for the underlying feeling of “deja vu” the seasoned moviegoer feels when watching any modern auteurs body of work!

Baz Luhrmann’s AUSTRALIA starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (see photo) is perhaps one of the most easily accessible post-modern works since pretty much any Quentin Tarantino film. 

Australia provides its viewers with a window into the post-modern world of contemporary cinema. A place where intertextualities abound!

Throughout the film, many historical film references, to well-known classics, are made.  At the end of this blog you will find  a list of several award-winning classic films that I saw referenced from only a single viewing. Take note that the overall film is set in the years spanning 1939-1942 and that in designing the film strict attention was undoubtedly paid to the filmic worlds imagined and created by filmmakers of that period. 1939 is considered to be possibly the most fertile cinematic periods in Hollywood history because so many films made then are now considered classics. 

• GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
• THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
• STAGECOACH (1939)
• CASABLANCA (1942)
• IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
• RED RIVER (1948)
• THE SEARCHERS (1956)
• BEN-HUR (1959)
• LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
• RYAN’S DAUGHTER (1970)
• STAR WARS (1977)
• APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
• OUT OF AFRICA (1985)
• GLORY (1989)
• DANCING WITH WOLVES (1990)
• SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
• STRICTLY BALLROOM (1994)
• TITANIC (1997)
• SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)

ALL OF THESE FILMS ARE CLASSICS AND WELL WORTH VIEWING. Did I miss any? If so, add them to the comments section.