Product Details

• Actors: Juliet Stevenson, Richard Roxburgh, Katherine Slattery, Tim Guinee, John Howard
• Directors: Brendan Maher
• Writers: Jill Ker Conway, Sue Smith
• Producers: Penny Chapman, Rebecca Eaton, Richard Clendinnen, Tim Pye
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: March 2, 2010
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002V3AM8Y
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,381 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Road from Coorain" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

An extraordinary coming-of-age story set in the vast Australian outback

Born in the 1930s on a remote sheep ranch in New South Wales, Jill Ker learns early to love the untamable land—and the allure of books. While her brothers attend boarding school, she stays at Coorain, working beside her beloved father and learning from Eve, her strong-willed mother. Theirs is a stoic family, but years of drought take their toll on Coorain and on the Kers. Jill endures several family tragedies, growing into a young woman of passion and ambition. But Eve buckles under the weight of grief, inspiring her daughter to break free and find her own way.

Winner of numerous awards, this visually lush, emotionally compelling drama is based on the celebrated memoir by historian Jill Ker Conway. Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) delivers an “invariably superb” (The Hollywood Reporter) performance as Eve. Also starring Katherine Slattery (Young Lions), Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge!), and Tim Guinee (Sweet Land).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Road From Corrain-Great film, February 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road from Coorain [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I think this is a wonderful adaptation of a wonderful novel. The acting is superb. The cinematography exquisite. Juliet Stevenson and Tim Guinee are extraordinary. It is well worth your time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent choice..., June 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road from Coorain [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This Masterpiece Theater film, based on a true story, is wonderfully told. Jill Ker's life in Australia, her relationship with her strong mother, and the tragedies they face are emotionally drawing. I think Masterpiece did a wonderful job and this has also encouraged me to read more of Jill KerConway's memoirs.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Australian Outback in its gut-dusty realism adapted from a feminine intellectual, January 14, 2010

By 

Harold Wolf "Doc" (Wells, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Road from Coorain (DVD)

Coorain: Aboriginal meaning is "windy place." Intellectual, feminist, historian, writer Jill Ker Conway's bestselling memoir "The Road From Coorain" is dramatized, never capable to equaling the book, but in it's own way, becoming an informative, Outback-drawing, powerful coming-of-age rendition of this remarkable lady's life. Conway recognized the winds of the Aussie Outback as being something like Van Gogh's swirling painted suns. This movie provides a stark background to swirling emotions and family relationships that turned a child in a lonely location into a remarkable scholar. An overcomer.

The story of Jill Ker (Katherine Slattery-"Young Lions") begins more about her mom Eve (Juliet Stevenson-"Truly,Madly, Deeply"). Evelyn Mary Ker began Jill on book-learning as a distraction while lancing her boil. Mom's a tough lady, plus loving, determined to make a life on a 30,000 acre arid sheep ranch. Drought and wars took it's toll on family, lives, and success eventually leading school in Sydney. There is tragedy.

Jill's determination, as rugged as the God-forsaken grassland of remote New South Wales, presses her drive toward exceptional scholarship in history. With Jill's increasing intellectual success comes a more demanding mother. Eve is also reliant on alcohol. Will a dysfunctional home end Jill's future success? Of course if you know the story of Jill Ker Conway you know the answer, if not the means. Will Jill be Outback-content or seek other books to learn from in other world places? Of course there is the up & down of romance in both the Ker women's lives.

A great story of a solitary child, abiding an emotionally-defendant mother, enraptured with knowledge, and experimentally free with life. A feminist without the intent to be such. A natural Queen of women. Acting in this Australian drama is well done making it very believable. Ideal since the story is true.

Watch is as drama, but in the entertainment you are rewarded with the educational aspect of an autobiography/documentary. Features include Conway bio, Stevenson filmography and...
YES...SUBTITLES...YES.

I did not read the book, I just enjoyed the DVD.
If you like Aussie stories here's 2 more really, really good ones:
"The Shiralee"
"Rain Shadow"