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MOVIE: Rabbit Proof Fence
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Everlyn Sampi,
Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Screenplay by Doris Pilkington and Christine Olsen
Music by Peter Gabriel
Ocean Pictures and Becker Entertainment
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
Australian Director Phillip Noyce, who is more famous for thrillers like Clear And Present Danger and The Bone Collector, has taken a vacation from Hollywood fare to craft two wonderfully powerful statements movies year, The Quiet American and Rabbit Proof Fence.
Rabbit Proof Fence tells the true story of three young girls' trek across the Outback in 1931. At the time Australia had a practice of kidnapping aboriginal children, especially those of mixed race, or "half-caste" descent, in order to bring them into white society. Of course they entered white society only as servants, not full members.
The biggest name in the film is Kenneth Branagh who plays Mr. Neville, the real life supervisor of the program in the 30s and 40s. Branagh plays him with an oddly cold kind of caring, making sure that we know he saw himself as a good man, rescuing aborigines from their primitive life, giving them a nice Christian upbringing, and attempting to breed out the aborigine blood of the half-castes. The girls trapped in his school however don't appreciate his efforts, calling him "Mr. Devil," and longing to go back to their families.
Over several decades, thousands of aborigine children, the so-called "Lost Generation," were taken without their parents' consent to lonely schools to be indoctrinated. The proper white people who backed the program told themselves they were doing a kindness, but in reality they were destroying families and dropping the kidnapped children in places that were at best underfunded and at worst just short of concentration camps. Noyce's film concentrates on the story of Molly, Daisy and Gracie whose towering determination took them 1500 miles back to their home after their escape. Everlyn Sampi as Molly, the oldest and the leader, is completely believable in spite of her young age, projecting a great sense of will with little dialogue.
At the end Noyce makes sure to give us a little footage of the real Molly Craig and Daisy, now old women, bent with age but still living in the home they love, at once personalizing and solidifying the film's message. Noyce also makes great use of Peter Gabriel's powerful soundtrack and the stark beauty of the Outback itself. The magnitude of the girls' achievement comes through in a way no one will soon forget.
Like the classic Australian Outback movie Walkabout, Rabbit Proof Fence is demanding that Autralia come to terms with its original people. Interestingly David Gulpilil, who starred with Jenny Agutter in Walkabout, is here again as the school's tracker. One of the film's many shining moments is when Noyce allows him the slightest of smiles when he realizes the girls will make it home.
The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the movie? Yes.
Would I go to see it again? It's uplifting, definitely worth seeing again.
© 2003 - Rusty Pipes