If your friends are God's way of apologizing for your relatives, then Australia is God's way of apologizing for Quantum of Solace

Some movies require you to suspend your disbelief. Some demand that you wad it up like a bungled rough draft and toss it out the window to be carried away into the never-never. And still others assume that you were born without a single ounce of disbelief to call your own. It is into this third category that Baz Luhrmann's movies fall.

Luhrmann is not a man who believes in limits, and his films are all the better for it. I like, admire and respect all four of his movies so far, and I absolutely adore three of them: Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, and now Australia. William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet was an impressive feat: anyone who could interest teenagers in a version of Romeo and Juliet that more or less used the original language deserves respect. But if I were to play host to a person who had never been fortunate enough to see a movie, Luhrmann's other three films would be the first I would show him. "Look at this," I would say. "These are absolute magic."

Australia, I fear, will not draw huge audiences, at least if the New York Times review and the number of people I shared my showing with are any indication. It's too bad really. It is the first movie I have seen in a long time that had no weak spots. I have only one quibble with this movie: the special effects in two of the shots are unfortunately obvious. This is a far better score than even the new Star Wars movies achieve, however. Some will find another fault with this movie: its length of nearly three hours. To these people, I say, "After I watched the second Pirates of the Caribbean on DVD, which I had rented for a mere dollar, I thought, 'that's a dollar and two-and-a-half hours of my life I'll never get back.' Australia is $10 and three hours well spent."

This movie tells the story of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who leaves England for Australia to try to sell her husband's cattle station in the Northern Territory (pronounced Tear-a-tree). The sale, she believes, will solve two problems: her husband's absence (he is spending all his time down under), and the couple's imminent financial problems. She meets up with her husband's "trusted man", Drover (Hugh Jackman), for the trip from Darwin to the station, and adventure ensues. Aside from Kidman and Jackman's solid performances, there is an enchanting indigenous Australian boy who figures prominently into the story.

Like any Luhrmann movie, it contains a catchy life lesson that makes its first appearance as a creed by which one of the characters lives and gets repeated a few times. This is Luhrmann's specialty, and I for one am grateful for it. I know of no other filmmaker who not only touches the hearts of his audiences, but who also inspires their imagination, and inspires them to, above all, live! Live with as much spirit and creativity and love as you can manage, every day of your life. Instead of suspending your disbelief, and willingly entering into a temporary fantasy land, Luhrmann wants you to integrate his movies and their lessons into your life. He reminds us, before the film even begins, of the lesson he taught in his first film, Strictly Ballroom: A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

Some of you will recall that I had the good fortune to spend most of August and the first few days of September of 2007 bouncing around Australia, from Sydney to Melbourne to Cairns to Alice Springs to Yulara. On the way to see the movie this afternoon, I finished reading In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, which is excellent. My next vacation is going to be to Portugal, Spain and Italy, with the possibility of a few stops in the south of France. But what I want to do most of all right now is to return to Australia, which I recommend very highly to all who can afford the time and money a visit requires. Both will prove very well spent, I promise you.