“Faraway Downs” has been given the title “Australia – The Series” in Germany, which of course makes it much clearer what we are dealing with here: “Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann relives his epic cinema adventure “Australia” from 2008, re-cut and expanded with previously unseen material – and the result now comes to Disney Plus as a six-episode miniseries.
“Australia – The Series” begins on November 26, 2023 Disney+. Baz Luhrmann announced in 2022 that he would be re-releasing his visually stunning cinematic epic – telling “a different version of this story, one with different levels, nuances and even alternative plot twists, which we could now develop in an episodic episode.” format.”
“Australia – The Series”: new variation on the well-known story
“Australia – The Series” is based on the same material as the film, but is now “a new twist on ‘Australia’ for audiences to discover.” the filmmaker. In addition to the aforementioned changes to the plot and additional scene material that Luhrmann made for ‘Australia’ but did not use in the film, there is also a new ending – and a new soundtrack can also be heard. You can already stream the film ‘Australia’ with a Disney+ subscription.
“Faraway Downs” is the name of the cattle ranch run by the English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) in “Australia” from her late husband. The young woman, previously spoiled by life, only traveled Down Under in 1939 to confront her unfaithful husband – and after his death is now left alone with responsibility for the gigantic plot of land that the unscrupulous cattle baron King Carney had given her given (Bryan Brown) wants to take.
Carney thinks she will have an easy time with the English woman, who is inexperienced in livestock farming and unaccustomed to the harsh life in the outback. But Lady Sarah gets help from the rough drover Drover (Hugh Jackman), for whom she soon develops feelings – and also takes under her wing the young Nullah (Brandon Walters), a child of Australian aborigines, from whom she learns a lot about the country builds an increasingly stronger bond with their new home.
“Australia”: powerful production, beautiful images
We gave the movie “Australia” 3.5 out of 5 possible stars in our FILMSTARTS review. Our conclusion: “Baz Luhrmann’s daring attempt to create a monumental epic for the ages wasn’t exactly successful, but ‘Australia’ is still an old-fashioned adventure melodrama worth watching […]. The incredibly powerful production and fantastic visuals compensate for the minor flaws in the character drawing.”
It remains to be seen whether the series version can eliminate these weaknesses – but for us it is clear You can again expect beautiful images and great emotions in the miniseries, now in an even more epic length than in the feature film with a running time of approximately 2.5 hours.