They can’t let them win. And they won’t. At least this is what Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) and Drover (Hugh Jackman) strive to do in Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia,” an epic drama about a major event in the history of his homeland, filtered through the eyes and mind of people who tried to save their own lives from the perfidious conflicts of war.

Set in 1939’s Darwin, “a land of crocodiles, cattle barons and warrior chiefs, where adventure and romance was a way of life,” the film tells the story of an English aristocrat who comes Down Under in order to find her husband, who hasn’t returned from a lengthy departure in the Outback. The blue-blooded woman is none other that Lady Sarah Ashley, who is initially described as a rigid peer of the realm whose sensitivity is concealed by a cold beauty and an even colder attitude. Nevertheless, when she discovers that her spouse has been murdered and that she has to take over his unsettled duties, Lady Sarah Ashley pulls out all the stops so as to prove that she can cope with the situation.

She shortly finds out that Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) and an avaricious businessman plan to steal her 1,500 head of cattle and is forced to drive the cattle to the port of Darwin and try to sell them to the military. Since she is unable to handle the animals by herself, she asks Drover for help. The rugged Aussie cowboy and the British aristocrat fall in love, in spite of the initial aversion between them, and try to face the harsh realities of life without losing their bond.

As “Australia” moves from one marvelous scenery to another, the love between the two characters seems to grow and the confrontations seem to become more violent. And this is the best thing about the movie: it has the time to develop several storylines without forgetting its message on the way.