We borrowed this miniseries from the Ottawa Public Library. My husband (an Australian) was mortified that we would spend 10 hours watching TV in one week (the library's time limit for videos), and after the first episode I also thought that we would probably not get through the lot. But eventually we got caught up in the program as it evolved, becoming somewhat bizarre even, reminding us from time to time of the magical realism of some Latin American writers.
The series takes place in a immigrants' welcome camp in the middle of nowhere in Australia, following the lives of administrators and immigrants ("inmates" according to a camp director). The story is a mixture of life in the camp and the individual histories of the immigrants, some of which is told in flashbacks. Certainly we felt that some stories were unusual even extreme, to the point of edginess. The outside world interferes little which is a bit odd considering that this camp was supposed to be a transitory place for the immigrants whose aim should be to find work and integrate into Australian life.
The writing definitely improves as the series advances, but the show remains a mixture of predictable and (sometimes very) surprising turn of events. The same can be said about the acting. I particularly liked Linda Cropper (Lady Bev) and of course Cate Blanchett (Bianca) is eery, creepy and ephemeral at the same time. Hugo Weaving is also excellent as an embattled English teacher while I must admit I often didn't understand what the actress who played his daughter was saying which was a pity as she was the quasi narrator at the beginning of each episode.
Overall, an interesting miniseries, worth watching if you have 10 spare hours on your hand. Don't expect to learn much about the struggles of new immigrants in Australian society, this is more a collection of quirky stories of a closed village.
One last thing: they didn't include the usual disclaimer at the end "No animal was harmed in the making this movie" even though quite a number of sheep get knocked off - as is typical in the Australian outback, I guess.
