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Synopsis: (courtesy of imdb.com and wikipedia.com)

“In 1939, the English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley, travels from Great Britain to northern Australia to try and convince her suspected of philandering husband, Maitland Ashley, of selling their failing cattle farm, Faraway Downs. Her husband sends an independent cattle drover, simply called “Drover”, to the city of Darwin to transport her to Faraway Downs. Lady Sarah’s husband, who has been working hard to sell 1,500 head of cattle to the military, is murdered shortly before she arrives. Meanwhile, treacherous FD cattle station manager Neil Fletcher is trying to gain control of Faraway Downs, so that neighboring Lesley ‘King’ Carney can have a cattle monopoly in the Northern Territory, which will give him negotiating leverage with the Australian army. Fletcher also claims to Lady Sarah that the murderer of her husband is an Aboriginal elder with magical powers, called “King George.” Lady Sarah persuades Drover to take the cattle to Darwin for sale after firing her station manager when Nullah, a mixed race Aboriginal-Caucasian child Lady Ashley befriended, proves that Fletcher has been lying  the whole time. Drover leads a team of six other riders, including Lady Sarah, to attempt to drive the 1,500 cattle to Darwin in time to beat out the sale of King Carney’s cattle.”

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.

Genre: Drama, war, adventure, western.

Cast of characters: Nicole Kidman as Lady Sarah Ashley, Hugh Jackman as “Drover”, Dale Wenham as Neil Fletcher, Jack Thompson as Kipling Flynn, Bryan Brown as Lesley “King” Carney, Brandon Walters as Nullah, David Gulpilil as “King George”, Ben Mendelsohn as Captain Emmett Dutton, and David Ngoombujarra as Drover’s colleague and friend Magarri.

Stars: 5 Stars!!!

If there was ever a movie that deserved 5 stars, this movie is it. It was simply fantastic and totally delightful. It was a good, clean, family film that left you sitting on the edge of your seat, hoping and praying that Lady Ashley, Drover, and their entourage would successfully make it across some of the barren wastelands that Australia contains. This was not simply a “chic flick” or a “guy’s film”, but truly one the whole family could enjoy and connect with. This story had such great depth and intrigue that it left you wanting more, or to simply re-watch it over and over, again.