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Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

People are voting emotionally.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Sometimes, ugly times produce beautiful art, and Lucky Miles is a beautiful film.I've lost count of the times a smirking politician has described how shockingly, insufferably bad things are in some of them nasty foreign places. They should be thankful we're carpet-bombing them, to restore some civility. Or so we're constantly told.At the same time it's argued that if some of the locals ever wanted to flee from the above-mentioned insufferably-bad places then there must be something suspicious about them.Politicians depict refugees as a kind of blood-sucking mix of sacrilege and explosives and use this kind of message to win elections. In one infamous Australian election campaign, the incumbent Liberal government headed by John Howard explained to a horrified electorate that refugees showed their true colors by throwing healthy babies into the ocean to drown. And they had photos to prove it. The electorate was stunned and offered sufficient votes to return the government for another term. It was only after the election that the whole story came out: the kids in the photos (and adults too) were in the water because their boat was sinking.Refugees are a fact of life, and with climate change set to inundate some of the most heavily populated coastal regions with salty water, the smart money says the issue is not going to fade away. There's no such thing as a country without borders and in a place like Australia, which is an island-continent the size of mainland USA, I think it's preferable being better informed about refugees rather than lied to.And so it is with an approach of casting a gentle and honest light on a mixed batch of refugees, dumped on a remote stretch of Australian coastline, that Lucky Miles begins its story. The refugees are not saints, and they're not villains either. In fact they seem to be remarkably human. Excited, frightened, insecure, and totally unfamiliar with their new surroundings, but at all times, human. There's one memorable scene where a group encounters an 'unexploded' tin can. The film doesn't mock their response. It just deals with it and moves on. And I love that.One aspect of the film which I've never seen used before, was the use of text translations positioned right alongside the speakers instead of always running on the bottom of the screen as subtitles. I hate thinking of all the foreign-language footage I've never seen over the years because I was tied up scanning only the bottom one-tenth of a screen reading the text. Placing the translations alongside the character not only allowed me to watch the film, but also made it crystal clear which character was talking - a feature which enhanced the long-distance scenes immeasurably. That subtle difference alone made me feel like spontaneously applauding.And that's what it's like to watch this film. You can peel away the 'spin' filters, canned laughter and smoke machines, and make up your own mind about the issues as the story develops. And it is a good story too, with real human drama. It is told with refreshing simplicity. It feels believable. Director Michael James Rowland truly shines in his role.I thoroughly recommend this film.

This film is for thinkers. The contrast and interaction between the 2 main characters alone, is priceless! Kind of a cowboy story where everyone is on their own selfish little trip, all a little lost in one way or another.Just when we think something terrible is going to happen, WHAM, a clever, witty remark or something unexpected happens. What a hilarious send-up of the Australian army.As The Sydney Morning Herald puts it, it's a bit like The Wizard of Oz minus Dorothy and the dog.The dessert, is so beautiful, and the music, well, I sure hope the soundtrack is available soon.Yes, the 'birds aren't very musical in Australia'. ;-D Lisa McIntosh

Well, i don't really join the Hoo Haas on this one, I did have some good laughs but nearly yawn at others. I liked the music, I like the scenery, I liked the acting. But i'm not so sure about the whole mix, There were impossible situation and unrealistic too. One may find difficult to accept such fun in such desperate situations, the English a little too perfect for my liking and my migrant background. I was a little puzzled by the landscape and thought to cancel my hopes to go to Egypt one day on this basis, but after reading a comment about that landscape having perhaps being borrowed from somewhere else, I might wait to find the reality. I have traveled in Nth Qld, and from Darwin to Melbourne and saw a desert quite different. But I have never been to Nth WA so can't really tell one way or another. Warts and all I found it a very worthwhile work, but for me I found better value in some other Aussie movies. To each its own, but you have to see it if you want to know :)

The story and script are highly entertaining. The film examines the issue of asylum seekers in a non-confronting way, simply looking at it through the frame of immediate survival for the three "buddies". The acting throughout is also very convincing, and I will even give 3 out of 10 stars to South Australia for its portrayal of the Kimberley. There were some shots when the two stranded fishermen were walking along a beach under some red cliffs which could almost have passed for Cape Vilaret near Broome, but the "inland" shots mostly looked wrong in terms of vegetation and soil. It is sad that when the landscape is such a crucial character in a film, and when authenticity has been well-served in casting the humans, a similarly authentic approach could not also have been applied to that landscape.