Faraway downs

You must actually get Baz Luhrmann to get the brilliance here. Haunting and eloquent. Insightful and poetic. Tragic and breathtaking. All at once.

This will no doubt be a show that I will watch again and again. And I will encourage my writing students to study the example that Luhrmann demonstrates in this masterpiece of how to put an audience squarely in the skin of the protagonists, give those characters believable, sympathetic qualities and a balance of flaws, and then take the audience on a thrilling ride.

This adaptation sweeps us up from the very beginning and transports us to another world. I fully expect Emmys all around. Nothing was left on the floor.

I have an aversion to WWII "stuff" and that's how I originally viewed this from the ads. But then my curiosity of Australia took over and won, so I reluctantly watched it.

Oh my.

This is obviously compared to the movie it is based on, "Australia". And I did watch that! I remember from a few poignant and powerful scenes from Faraway Downs. Brilliant in "Australia". Brilliant in "FD".

This is not too long nor "too" anything. This is an in-depth series that, if you let it, will take your breath away many times, and will replace it with something much stronger.

The cinematography is outrageous! And they have invited us to join them on this journey which isn't always pretty or nice or kind. But it's real and it's heart opening thanks to an ensemble of excellent actors who were brave enough to share their world - the good and the bad - with us.

I hope you enjoy it just a little bit. :)

Please note - this review is from a fan of the movie 'Australia' and is expressing my point of view:

Australia is one of my fav movies to watch from time to time.

However, Far-away Downs is my new 'Australia'. Watching faraway downs, it gave the story more detail and explain the scenes in more depth that the movie doesn't show.

I'm not gonna spoil the show as it needs to be watched. Every episode draws you to the next one until the end. I like how every episode had time to explain more and the last episode esp wasn't rushed.

The true events of our country and it's history from that time are shown in a careful, respectful manner esp the subject about the stolen generation.

Baz, every movie, tv show etc to date are done with care, heart, research, attention to detail for the subject your directing to your audience.

Can't wait to see the next project :)

Cinematography is brilliant and would be amazing on the big screen. Star actors couldn't be bigger names and all bring a compelling presence to the screen. Are there any big surprises or twists to engage the audience? Maybe not, but it's an enjoyable series.

We're pretty spoilt these days which makes us very critical. Let's just look for the positives. It's so good to see so many great Aussie actors on the screen, none bigger than Hugh Jackman, a favourite especially for the ladies. Nicole Kidman still looks beautiful on screen. It's good to see Bryan Brown as well as others. The villain isn't hard to hate so his acting must be spot on. Overall, the acting is good and I especially liked the little boy, Nullah.

The visual aspect alone is a great advertisement for Australia and should bring a big increase in tourism.

I don't know the ending yet as only seen four episodes but I hear it differs from 'Australia' which also faced criticism.

I stand by rating of 8 despite no surprises because visually it is spectacular.

It's not as good as you would have hoped. It's got a lot of Indiana Jones type action, storyline and production. Too much Hollywood in this and it's too bad. Predictable bad guys and of course the indigenous characters are highly moral and God like. White man bad. It's probably good for fans of the Hallmark Channel since there is an obvious Love Story. The rough cowboy and the sophisticated lady. Yawn fest. It looks very saturated and there is a lot of CGI and melodramatic music. The intro music and credits music is possible the worst thing about this series. You'll want to move quickly off the credits to make it stop.