Line #10 Film/Australia


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/australia_movie.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:The longest tourism commercial ever.]]
3
4	''For those interested in the country itself, you may wish to try TV Tropes' [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Australia: Useful Notes]], LandDownUnder, or [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SearchWiki?text=Australia&pagename=Main%2FSearchWiki view the search results for "Australia"]].''
5
6	Set in the Northern Territory of the 1940s, ''Australia'', director Creator/BazLuhrmann's fourth feature film, centers around the lives of the English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Creator/NicoleKidman), a half-Aboriginal boy, Nullah, and an Australian [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep known only by his occupation]]: Drover (Creator/HughJackman). The trio, accompanied by friends, attempt to drove the herd of 2,000 cattle from the property to the army's meat ship in Darwin. The town, port and the island that Nullah was shipped to when Australia would send Aboriginal children to Christian Missions is subsequently bombed by the Japanese.
7
8	Did we mention that it's not only called Australia and set in Australia, but stars Australians, was directed by an Australian, funded by an Australian (albeit one with US citizenship), written by several Australians, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment filmed in Australia]] and premiered in [[OverlyLongGag Australia]]. [-[[MemeticMutation In AUSTRALIA!]]-] [[note]]And as Hugh Jackman said during the Oscars, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Terhj8mjPwY Everything is being downsized due to the recession. For example, next year I'll be starring in a film called 'New Zealand'.]]"[[/note]]
9
10	In 2022, it was announced that an expanded MiniSeries version of the film would be produced, which would make use of unused footage from the original shoot and feature an alternate ending. Titled ''Faraway Downs'', the new cut is set to premiere on Creator/{{Hulu}} and [[Creator/StarDisneyPlus Star]] platforms in winter 2022-2023.
11
12	----
13	!!This movie has examples of:
14
15	* TheAlcoholic: Kipling Flynn, the ranches accountant.
16	* AnyoneCanDie - A total of ''six'' plot-important characters die throughout the course of the movie. Seven if you count [[spoiler: Drover's dog]].
17	* ArchnemesisDad: Fletcher is Nullah's father, cares nothing for the boy, and poses a major threat towards him throughout the movie.
18	* AreWeThereYet - "How long till we reach Faraway Downs?"
19	* ArtisticLicenseEconomics - The cattle drive involves some 2000 head of cattle. An infantry division at this time would consume something like 3500 to 5000kg of meat, or 16 cattle, per day. The Australian army had three infantry division (6th, 7th and 9th) in the Middle East at this stage plus the 8th in the Pacific region, meaning this load of cattle would probably keep the army happy for about a month. Even assuming that the meat may not be directly for Australian soldiers overseas, food rationing in the rest of Australia was in place and the idea that 2000 cattle would not be able to find a buyer in this situation is interesting to say the least.
20	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Has [[ArtisticLicenseHistory/{{Australia}} its own page]].
21	* ArtisticLicenseShips - Having re-used effects footage from [[Film/ToraToraTora another movie]], the warships shown during the Japanese raid do not remotely resemble any USN or RAN ships present at the time. The largest US ships were USS Perry (a four stack destroyer, sunk with 88 dead) and USS William B Preston (a seaplane tender of similar size to Perry). Largest RAN warship was HMAS Platypus (an ex submarine depot ship being used as a floating base ship and resembling a merchantman.) None of these ships or any of the others had the large tripod mast seen on at least one ship during the raid sequence.
22	* AwesomeAussie - The Drover; at least, that's what his character is ''supposed'' to be.
23	* BestFriendsInLaw: Maggari, the Drover's friend and companion, is the brother of his late wife.
24	* CattleDrive - Of epic proportions. It takes up the first half of the movie or so.
25	* ChekhovsGun - The prelude notes about how Australia sent Half-Aboriginal children to Missions in order to "clean" them (culturally speaking). Of course Nullah gets sent away.
26	* ChekhovsSkill - The Drover explains that cattle will fear a man standing alone and [[DeathGlare staring them in the eye.]] Guess how Nullah stops a cattle stampede?
27	* CorruptCorporateExecutive - King Carney, and Neil Fletcher when he [[spoiler: feeds King Carney to crocodiles so he can take over the business.]]
28	* DefrostingIceQueen: Upon arriving, Sarah is a fairly standoffish, towards both the hired hands and local society people like the Carney's. She develops over the course of the cattle drive.
29	* DiesWideOpen - [[spoiler: Sarah Ashley's husband is shown lying on a table, pierced by a spear, with his eyes open. Fletcher closes them.]]
30	* DroppedABridgeOnHim - [[spoiler: Carney]] is killed mid movie during a montage.
31	* TheDragon - Neil Fletcher is this to King Carney; later he becomes [[spoiler:TheStarscream]].
32	%%* EpicMovie
33	* FunnyBackgroundEvent - When Lady Sarah Ashley arrives in the tavern and is talking to the bartender, behind her, outside of the tavern, the Drover is busy fighting.
34	* FinalSpeech - [[spoiler: After Kipling Flynn is violently trampled by the stampeding cattle, the barely-alive alcoholic tells the Drover to drink the bottle of whiskey that he smuggled, saying it would be "a terrible shame to waste it", he also tells him about how he learned from Nullah about the glass-tipped spear that was used to kill Lord Ashley (and Drover later learns that Fletcher had killed Lord Ashley and not King George), before he tragically dies, Flynn tells the Drover to apologise to Sarah on his behalf for being "a coward".]]
35	* GenreThrowback - Arguably. To the old-school period epics and Westerns of the Sixties and earlier, which probably would evoke the same lukewarm reactions as ''Australia'' today, but were beloved classics then.
36	* GoodShepherd: The younger of the two missionary priests, who isn't seen being an xenophobic bully towards them (unlike his superior) and pleads for a boat to go out and rescue them during the Japanese attack.
37	* HalfBreedDiscrimination: The "Stolen Generations" is showcased by Nullah, a boy of mixed Aboriginal and white parentage, who gets removed from his Aboriginal family into a Christian Mission because children like him were viewed as a threat who had to be assimilated into white society.
38	%%* HappyEnding - Oh, yeah.
39	* HeroicSacrifice - [[spoiler: Magarri distracts the Japanese and then draws them off so they don't spot the escaping children.]]
40	%%* HollywoodKiss
41	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice - [[spoiler:Fletcher dies via impalement by a metal rod thrown by King George.]]
42	* {{Jerkass}}:
43	** King Carney, although he has some humanity and morals that redeem him - noticeable when he confronts Fletcher upon learning the truth about Lord Ashley's murder.
44	** The Polish bartender Ivan is an example to begin with, but he [[HeelFaceTurn becomes a better person]].
45	* KarmicDeath - [[spoiler:Fletcher speared the husband of Lady Ashley at the beginning of the movie in order to gain his property and frame King George. Take a wild guess how he dies, and who kills him.]]
46	* LukeYouAreMyFather - Neil Fletcher is [[spoiler: Nullah's father]].
47	* MalignedMixedMarriage - Part of [[spoiler: Drover]]'s backstory. His Aboriginal wife died when she was denied treatment in a hospital because of her race. Consequently, [[spoiler: Drover]] chooses to be friendly with the local indigenous people and keeps his distance from the white community.
48	* MercyKill - [[spoiler: Magari]] is shot in the back after attempting to distract several Japanese from [[spoiler: Drover and the children]], after a moment of gasping for breath he is shot in the head by one of the soldiers.
49	* {{Jerkass}}:
50	* MrFanservice - Creator/HughJackman.
51	* NoNameGiven - Thoroughly played straight with Drover.
52	%%* OffingTheOffspring - Fletcher tries to do this to [[spoiler: Nullah]].
53	* OneWordTitle
54	* OrangeBlueContrast - ''And how''. It's almost easier to count the scenes in the movie that ''aren't'' bathed in orange-blue contrast. Much of that is probably helped along by the SceneryPorn: the Australian Outback is bright orange, sandy desert contrasted with deep, cloudless blue sky. There is also orange tinting on the human characters and often-appearing dark blue lighting.
55	* OscarBait - ''Boy Howdy''. Amusingly received only a nomination for its costumes. Hugh Jackman spoofed this in his UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-opening monologue: "In ''Literature/TheReader'', [[Creator/KateWinslet Kate]], English, [[FakeNationality plays a German]], nominated. In ''Film/TropicThunder'', Creator/RobertDowneyJr, who was an American, playing an Australian, [[UncleTomfoolery playing an African-American]], nominated. Where's me? I'm an Australian, playing an Australian in a movie called ''Australia''... hosting." Which prompted a writer at Website/TelevisionWithoutPity to quip, "[[SarcasmMode Yeah]], ''that's'' the reason, [[LargeHam Hugh]]."
56	* PrecisionFStrike - After mostly refraining from harsh language, The Drover delivers a particularly effective "fuck" near the end of the movie.
57	* ProductPlacement - Australia itself. Having assisted with funding, the government through Tourism Australia hoped to attract significant overseas tourism from this movie.
58	* PublicDomainSoundtrack - Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations (specifically, Variation IX Nimrod) plays over the final scene of the film.
59	* PunchClockVillain:
60	** Sgt. Callahan qualifies. Although he is sent to track both King George and Nullah down and take them away, Callahan is simply doing his job.
61	** The Indigenous trackers that are hired to help track Nullah down. Since they have very little screen time, not much is known about them. However, the trackers appear to be rather callous and unfeeling, so their morals are pretty questionable.
62	* RecycledInSpace - It's ''Film/OutOfAfrica'' [-IN AUSTRALIA!-]
63	* SceneryPorn - It sure is pretty Down Under.
64	* SheCleansUpNicely - Played straight... with Hugh Jackman!
65	* ShirtlessScene - The Drover has a wash at one point... mmm... wet, soapy Hugh Jackman...
66	* ShoutOut - There are multiple allusions throughout to Film/TheWizardOfOz, which was released in 1939, the same year the story begins. Sarah clumsily attempts to describe the plot of the film to a fascinated Nullah, who later gets to see it for himself at a cinema in Darwin; "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a recurring musical motif; and at one point the main characters have to cross the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Never_%28Australian_outback%29 Never Never]].
67	* SlapSlapKiss - Basically the relationship of Lady Ashley and Drover in a nutshell. At least at first anyway.
68	* SpoiledSweet: Carney's daughter Cath, despite being in love with [[GoldDigger Fletcher]] is a nice, unassuming woman who volunteers to help at the radio tower and is one of the few to treat Sarah well even after she falls out of favor with many (including Cath's mother) due to her outspoken sympathy for the aboriginals.
69	* StockScream - The Wilhelm Scream.
70	* TwoActStructure - of the "Rise and Fall" variety. Act One ends on a triumphant note, with a successful cattle drive and Sarah hooking up with the Drover. After a two-year TimeSkip narrated by Nullah, Act Two begins on an ominous note, with Fletcher having taken over from King Carney and the threat of war looking in the background.
71	* WhoNamesTheirKidDude - The Chinese cook at Faraway Downs has the humorously-offensive name of "Mr. Singsong".
72	%%* WorldOfHam
73	* TheWestern - [[RecycledINSPACE Recycled... IN AUSTRALIA!]]

Context Film / Australia