In 1939 at the beginning of World War II, an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley, travels to Darwin in Australia to take over the running of her farm from her late husband. But when an opposing cattle farmer threatens to take over her land, Sarah attempts to steer her cattle across the country herself with the help of Drover, a cattle driver who she forms an intimate relationship with, and a young Aboriginal boy, Nullah, who Sarah takes under her wing. But on driving the cattle across the harsh Australian outback, the crew only end up riding straight into the Japanese's bombing of Darwin.

~ Cast ~
Lady Sarah Ashley - Nicole Kidman
Drover - Hugh Jackman
Nullah - Brandon Walters
Neil Fletcher - David Wenham
King Carney - Bryan Brown
Kipling Flynn - Jack Thompson
King George - David Gulpilil

I didn't think this would be all that brilliant - no one else I knew was interested in seeing it and the posters and trailers made it look a little old fashioned and I'm not usually keen on old fashioned films. However, I'm so glad that I decided to see it though as this was such a good film. Throughout the whole film I was just sitting there completely engrossed in what was going on on the screen as it was such a powerful and moving story.

The plot mainly focuses on how the white people treated the Aboriginal people and it just makes you grimace in disgust at some of the character's behaviour. We get to see into the lives of the Aboriginals and how their culture is so different from ours and all it ends up doing it making you side with the Aboriginals and go against your own kind. Personally, I was much more interested in this as I'd just recently been to Australia and already knew quite a bit about Aboriginals so this just made me even more interested in it as I felt that I could relate to it a bit more.

The story also focuses on the struggles of the characters trying to make their way across the Australian outback without much food or water and with the high risk of becoming lost and dying. The film is set at the time when the Japanese were bombing the country so we also see an insight into the devastation that this caused the city.

Brandon Walters, the young Aboriginal boy, is so lovely with the most gorgeous big eyes and you can't help but love him and feel so connected to him, despite him coming from such a different culture and background. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were fantastic too and make a great on screen couple although I did find it a little strange that Nicole Kidman, who is Australian, played an English woman who ends up moving to Australia.

Everything about this film - the settings and landscapes, the acting and characters, the story and emotion - everything was just brilliant. I absolutely loved this film and it's one of those that I could watch over and over again and never get bored.

Running time: 165 minutes
Certificate rating: 12A
Director: Baz Luhrmann