Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

Director:

Phillip Noyce

Writers:

Doris Pilkington (book)
Christine Olsen (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 February 2002 (Australia)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Tagline:

If you were kidnapped by the government, would you walk the 1500 miles back home?

Plot:

In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a trek across the Outback.

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Australia | Fence | Journey | Aborigine

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 21 wins & 24 nominations

Cast

Everlyn Sampi	...	Molly Craig
Tianna Sansbury	...	Daisy Kadibill
Laura Monaghan	...	Gracie Fields
David Gulpilil	...	Moodoo
Ningali Lawford	...	Maud
Myarn Lawford	...	Molly's Grandmother
Deborah Mailman	...	Mavis
Jason Clarke	...	Constable Riggs
Kenneth Branagh	...	A.O. Neville
Natasha Wanganeen	...	Nina, Dormitory Boss
Garry McDonald	...	Mr. Neal at Moore River
Roy Billing	...	Police Inspector
Lorna Leslie	...	Miss Thomas
Celine O'Leary	...	Miss Jessop
Kate Roberts	...	Matron at Moore River

MPAA:

Rated PG for emotional thematic material.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

Aboriginal | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:U | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/12 | South Africa:13V (theatrical rating) | South Africa:PG (DVD rating) | USA:TV-PG (cable rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:I | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #38838)

Filming Locations:

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Company:

Australian Film Commission, The

Trivia:

Everlyn Sampi, (Molly Craig), ran away twice during filming. In one instance, she was found in a phone booth, trying to buy tickets back to Broome.

Goofs:

Continuity: Far into the story the film shows the view from Mr. Neville's office window, allowing us to see a few applicants. Among those is a couple whose application had been rejected early in the story by Mr. Neville. Obviously the same set served different scenes that were far apart in time.

Quotes:

[First lines]
Title Cards: Western Australia 1931
Title Cards: For 100 years the Aboriginal Peoples have resisted the invasion of their lands by white settlers.
Title Cards: Now, a special law, the Aborigines Act, controls their lives in every detail.
Title Cards: Mr. A. O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, is the legal guardian of every Aborigine in the State of Western Australia.
Title Cards: He has the power "to remove any half-caste child" from their family, from anywhere within the state.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gulpilil: One Red Blood (2002) (V)

Soundtrack:

All Things Bright and Beautiful

A Scathing Attack on Racism

"And miles to go before I sleep/ And miles to go before I sleep" -- Robert Frost

Set in Western Australia in 1931, Rabbit-Proof Fence, a new film by Australian director Philip Noyce (The Quiet American, Clear and Present Danger), is a scathing attack on the Australian government's "eugenics" policy toward Aboriginal half-castes. Continuing policies begun by the British, the white government in Australia for six decades forcibly removed all half-caste Aborigines from their families "for their own good" and sent them to government camps where they were raised as servants, converted to Christianity, and eventually assimilated into white society.

Based on the 1996 book, "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence" by Doris Pilkington Garimara (Molly Kelly's daughter), the film tells the story of three Aboriginal girls, 14-year old Molly Kelley, her 8-year old sister Daisy, and their 10-year old cousin Gracie. It shows their escape from confinement in a government camp for half-castes and their return home across the vast and lonely Australian Outback. It is a simple story of indomitable courage, told with honest emotion. Abducted by police in 1931 from their families at Jigalong, an Aboriginal settlement on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert in northwest Australia, the three girls are sent to the Moore River Native Settlement near Perth. Here the children must endure wretched conditions. Herded into mass dormitories, they are not allowed to speak their native language, are subject to strict discipline, and, if they break the rules, are put into solitary confinement for 14 days.

Followed by the Aborigine tracker, Moodoo (a great performance from David Gulpilil), the girls make their escape. Using a "rabbit-proof fence" as a navigation tool, they walk 1500 miles across the parched Outback to return to Jigalong. The rabbit-proof fence was a strip of barbed-wire netting that cut across half of the continent and was designed to protect farmer's crops by keeping the rabbits away. The girls walked for months on end often without food or drink, not always sure of the direction they are going, using all their ingenuity and intelligence along the way just to survive. The stunning Australian landscape is magnificently photographed by Christopher Doyle, and a haunting score by Peter Gabriel translates natural sounds of birds, animals, wind and rain into music that adds a mystical feeling to the journey.

The performances by amateur actors Evelyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, and Laura Monaghan (who had never seen a film before let alone acted in one) are authentic and heartbreakingly affecting. Though the white officials and police are characterized as smug and unfeeling, they are more like bureaucrats carrying out official policies than true villains. Kenneth Branagh gives a strong but restrained performance as Mr. Neville, the minister in charge of half-castes. Rabbit-Proof Fence is an honest film that avoids sentimentality and lets the courage and natural wisdom of the girls shine through. This is one of the best films I've seen this year and has struck a responsive chord in Australia and all over the world. Hopefully, it will become a vehicle for reconciliation, so that the shame of the "Stolen Generation" can at last be held to account.