AMAZING!!!

Rating: 10/10 (2 June 2001)

This review is about truth, beauty, freedom, and, above all things, love. The truth-better films are made by film makers who aren't concerned with ticket sales, just their vision. The beauty-well, that's the film itself. The freedom-we must allow films to take us places. And love-that's all we really need, but it can't conquer all.
As a film "critic", I try to keep myself at a distance from the films I review, but every now and then, I see a movie that I become totally enthralled with. "The Shawshank Redemption" is one of these movies, and "Moulin Rouge" is the latest ."Moulin Rouge" is simply one of the most pleasant movie-watching experiences I've ever had, since IÂ‘ve extensively started watching film in 1995. It is a bewildering, magical, funny, touching, and romantic tale that combines the four ideals that I expounded upon on the outset of this review. Director Baz Luhrman (Romeo + Juliet) has blown me away once again. At it's simplest, "Moulin Rouge" is a rock musical, featuring everything from Nirvana to old school Madonna to the Police, and it all fits PERFECTLY. After I saw its soundtrack listing, I bought the CD, and it has been getting nonstop rotation in my player ever since. But labeling "Moulin Rouge" as a musical limits it, because it's a visual dream and sometimes nightmare.
"Moulin Rouge" tells the story of Christian (played magnificently by Ewan McGregor), a naive young writer who preaches the four, before-mentioned, ideals like they are his personal creed, because, quite simply, they are. Due to an impromptu meeting with four Bohemian musical writers, especially a dwarf (don't ask), played by John Leguizamo, Christian gains access to the titular nightclub, where he meets the club's "sparkling diamond", Satine (Nicole Kidman), a performer/courtesan, who instantly enraptures our young protagonist. The only problem is that Satine has been promised, exclusively, to the Duke of Worcester, who has promised that as long as Satine is his, he will fund the Moulin Rouge. Also, as we, the audience, are shown early on, Satine is slowly dying from tuberculosis. Not surprisingly, this is a recipe for disaster, but Luhrman stages it all with a fun house intensity that never stops until the end credits roll.
I only have one regret after seeing "Moulin Rouge", and that's the fact that I will never have the experience of seeing it for the first time again, because it truly is an experience. The first thirty minutes speeds along at almost a sickening pace, much to the point that people nationwide have reportedly walked out. Good. If they can't take it, I don't want them. What Baz Luhrman has made here is nothing short of a masterpiece. It's that good. It is the closest thing I have ever seen capture what it truly means to be in love. As one of my movie-watching companions honestly stated: "I want to fall in love like that."
Also, I'm kind of bias about the movie, because it stars the love of my life, Ms. Kidman. When she first appears in the movie, dropping from the heavens on a swing, I started swooning. Her performance was the best I've ever seen of her, at that's saying a lot, but every actor in the movie fit his/her role perfectly, and that all comes back to the director.
Not much more can be said of the director, Baz Luhrman, but after seeing "Pearl Harbor" last week, there's truly a contrast. In "Pearl Harbor", you had a director and producer who were aching to create another "Titanic"/ "Saving Private Ryan" in order to win the awards which their film won't even be nominated. In "Moulin Rouge", you have a director who, quite adamantly, put his heart, soul, and every fiber of his being into his film. You can tell how much he loved making this movie in every frame of it.
Well, if you haven't guessed it yet, I really liked "Moulin Rouge", and, if nothing else, I leave you with a quote from the film. "The greatest lesson you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return." I love this movie.