To be honest, after looking at the whole film, I don't think it deserves the title of epic masterpiece. This gimmick is a bit too worthy of the name. Not to mention a few flaws in the special effects that should not appear, even the plot is too weak.
One is Sarah and Drover and emotional development. What the director wanted to express to us should be that the two of them ran into each other in the process of driving cattle and developed a deep love for each other in the end. But the narrative is too frivolous. In the bull-driving scene, I couldn't feel the emotional line between the two of them except for the magnificent 1,500 bulls. The grand scene is important, but the development of details cannot be ignored. Love is a very delicate thing, we can't see it or touch it, but we can feel it. If the director can put more effort into the details of feelings, then the whole film will not be emotionally awkward to the audience. Not watching while silently wondering "How did they fall in love!?"
Another is the portrayal of Drover. From the words of others, I can feel "this is a man with a story", but in the end I still don't know what kind of sad story the handsome cowherd played by Hugh Jackman has. It's really not enough for his portrayal. But this is excusable. The director also said that "Australia" is mainly to celebrate the beauty of women, so the portrayal of men is really not that detailed. But this can't be a reason to portray characters anticlimactic. A good film needs every character to be full and three-dimensional. Since the director has said that it is to follow "Gone with the Wind" in order to become an "epic masterpiece", he should work hard in every aspect, otherwise everything is just a gimmick to deceive the audience's feelings and money for the sake of box office.
Although the film has its shortcomings, "Australia" is relatively successful as a whole.
As a mixed-race aboriginal child, nullah lived in fear of being captured by the security chief every day. After his mother died, Sarah acted as a mother in his life, perhaps because he was infertile or because of his natural maternal feelings. For Sarah, nullah is just like her own child, dressing him and taking family photos and reluctant him to travel far. Even in the end, she did not give up nullah, knowing that Mission Island was extremely dangerous, but still stubbornly fulfilled the promise of "we will meet again". At that time, few people could understand this kind of cross-racial feeling. From the day Captain Cook landed in Australia, it was a great discovery for the world, but for the indigenous people, it was the real beginning of tragedy. The land and resources on which they depended were occupied by white people, and the colonists treated them like slaves. Originally the masters of Australia, they instantly became prisoners of the colonists. Since then, racism has been deeply rooted in Australian soil. It was also from then on that there was a clear boundary between black and white. In Sarah's mind, it was not within such a boundary. When nullah was forcibly taken to Mission Island, her behavior was like a mirror, reflecting the ugly racial discrimination in the society at that time.
Only suffering can make one stronger.
The lady who just appeared on the stage is a cold image of an ordinary noble lady, but the sudden death of her husband gave her a heavy blow and forced her to take on the "cow driving" confrontation with Fletcher. In particular, the gray-headed image of the final successful arrival in Darwin is in stark contrast to the British aristocratic woman with a few carts of suitcases at the beginning.
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