Directed by: Baz Luhrmann

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh

Runtime: 127 mins

This seems not long back when I was in love with a film that had forbidden love as its main theme. The film had Nicole Kidman as the new age Juliet – Satine who succumbs to love of the idealistic writer Christian. He comes to the Moulin Rouge with dreams of making it big. He meets up with some of the theatre performers who want him to write a play called “Spectacular, Spectacular”.

The film has several references to many of Baz Luhrmann own work. His clever labor of love boasts some of the most innovative ideas for a musical that I had ever seen. He had taken the idea of having recitals in the narrative itself. This makes the whole enterprise very indulgent. But its beauty is in its audacious use of cinematic ideas from several parts of the globe and giving the film its own uniqueness.

The musical form has already been explored by him in the immensely challenging Romeo and Juliet. He broke into the Hollywood montage with that movie giving him the necessary leverage for him to do what ever he wanted.

There has never been a film that used the likes of Bollywood tunes, Nirvana, The Police and Madonna in one single film. Baz’s use of this music gave this movie a bigger demographic making it an instant hit. It was a magical film for me when I saw it the first time.

It took a lot of madness in the part of Baz to create some of the most beautiful sets for this movie. The film has its moments of plot deviations but its intent is towards a greater love that the protagonists wish to see. The idea of having a play within a movie was one of the smartest ideas to come out from the musical format. It gave the film a niche over the other musicals. But it also paved the way for several other movies like Hairspray, Chicago and Sweeney Todd.

There are moments in this movie that cant be forgotten like the kindled love that Christian and Satine share is so beautiful to watch under the background of such splendor. It also put Nicole Kidman back on the map with this beautiful and unforgettable portrayal. My only word of advice is you should be dead if you haven’t seen this one.

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