Film: Australia (English)
Star cast: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman
Direction: Baz Luhrmann
Theatres: PVR, Inox, Fame
Rating: 3/5

The film opens with an Aborigine half-caste boy Nullah (Brandon Walters), who has seen Sarah Ashley's (Nicole Kidman) husband murdered on the isolated Northern Territory just before the 1939 war. Sarah takes over her husband's ranch and fires Fletcher, the manager, when she comes to know of his evil pact with King Carney (Bryan Brown), the beef baron.

Sarah and Drover (Hugh Jackman), a ranch hand, head to Darwin with their cattle to set up their business.

They make the arduous journey and bad boy Fletcher keeps engineering stampedes among the herd. But they finally beat Carney at his own game. They also realise they are in love and move into their newly acquired ranch house with Nullah, but there's trouble even in this paradise.

What's hot: Hugh Jackman's rugged looks, which are the perfect foil to Nicole Kidman's petite charm. The film is a treat for those with a keen interest in war and history.

What's not: Unlike most English films, this one just goes on and on. Fletcher, the villain, keeps surfacing through the 3-hour film. Director Baz Luhrmann's intention to tell the world the story of the Stolen Generation suffers some hiccups in all the complicated twists and turns that the plot takes.u00a0