But, as someone once noted, it all doesn't amount to a hill of beans next to what's going on in the real world. Luhrmann's big mistake is to remind us of that. Once the War in the Pacific becomes a plot device, the wheels of artifice start flying off in a long, tortuous dûnouement, and even the loin-clothed specter of the wonderful David Gulpilil (from Nic Roeg's Walkabout) must look on in despair. Luhrmann's whimsy provides a fun guide to the continent and its clichûs, but he loses his way when he takes on the disasters of history.
