Australia brings to mind an epic film like  Gone with the Wind but with a better ending.  In 1939 a  Lady Sarah Ashley, ( Nicole Kidman), travels to meet her husband Lord Ashley in the North Territories on a cattle station known as "Faraway Downs".  On the day she arrives, Lord Ashley is murdered. Additionally there is the background of racism and the saga of the lost generations of stolen mixed blood children and the beginning of tension and war with Japan.  

To get another movie perspective of this I recommend, Rabbit Proof Fence , a 2002 Australian movie available on DVD.

Another rival land owner is also wanting her land, and secretly , with an employee on the inside, stealing prime cattle before they are branded.  Lady Ashley teams up with an unlikely character, played by Hugh Jackman known as the The Drover.  His job is to take a motley crew of unlikely hands and drive over 1500 head of cattle to Darwin to compete in a beef sale to the Australian government beef program for the armies.

Drover is a free spirit and after the cattle drive, Lady Ashley is lobbying him to be the stations manager. There is one scene the ladies are going to love, when Lady Ashley invited Drover to the Missionary Ball.  He refuses at first, referring to his past marriage to an Aboriginal lady that died of TB, ( another racial reference to the act that Aborigines of that day were not treated for Tuberculous) and as a far as the people of Darwin he was just another black. When he cleans up , puts on a tux, shaves and gets a haircut, there is Saul to Paul transformation in looks!  He and Lady Ashley give the group something to talk about indeed!

Aboriginal boy Nullah is one of the most pleasant of characters and is a rival for the audiences affections and emotions.  He plays many pivotal scenes in the movies and is the topic of those scenes.  Additionally he provides the narration and colorful local language. He has arguably the most innocent look and will win the hearts of most movie goers.  On the sidelines is his grand father a wizard of sorts to the local Aborigines adds his own mystical flavor to the movie.  

Baz Luhrmann fancied making a sweeping saga and although the movie is very entertaining, and can hold the audiences attention and emotions in many scenes I thought it tried to show too much and do too much in the this one film.  There is time to develop the characters on the most part but there were too many subplots and changes to make it smooth.  

To his credit the sets, costumes, and vastness of Australia, along with a lot of its unique beauty are on display.  Especially poignant was the comment by Lady Ashley when she at first curses the country and wonders what her husband ever saw in this land, then on the cattle drive her eyes are opened to the natural beauty.

Finally I need to mention the love affair she starts with, "The Drover".  His roughness, common sense in the wild, and natural good looks, make him a target of Lady Ashley and truly she is the one pushing the affair.  In time there is a great and natural love between them.  For the day it would have been a scandalous affair.  That bond will get a great test , again involving past emotions of the Drover and issues over  Nullah again trying to conquer the vast divides in culture, lifestyle and expectations of the two main characters.

I personally liked it but again I like these epic style movies and will tolerate a lot more than many.