Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

In 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.

Director:

Phillip Noyce

Writers:

Doris Pilkington (book) (as Doris Pilkington Garimara), Christine Olsen (screenplay)

Stars:

Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 23 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Everlyn Sampi	...	Molly Craig
Tianna Sansbury	...	Daisy Craig Kadibill
Laura Monaghan	...	Gracie Fields
David Gulpilil	...	Moodoo
Ningali Lawford	...	Maud - Molly's Mother
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 Lesley	...	Miss Thomas (as Lorna Leslie)
Celine O'Leary	...	Miss Jessop
Kate Roberts	...	Matron at Moore River

Storyline

Western Australia, 1931. Government policy includes taking half-white, half-Aboriginal children from their Aboriginal mothers and sending them a thousand miles away to what amounts to indentured servitude, "to save them from themselves." Molly, Daisy, and Grace (two sisters and a cousin who are fourteen, ten, and eight) arrive at their Gulag and promptly escape, under Molly's lead. For several days they walk north, following a fence that keeps rabbits from settlements, eluding a native tracker and the regional constabulary. Their pursuers take orders from the government's "Chief Protector of Aborigines", A.O. Neville, blinded by Anglo-Christian certainty, evolutionary world view, and conventional wisdom. Can the girls survive?

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Plot Keywords:

aborigine | half caste | escape | australia | fence | 

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Taglines:

1500 Miles Is A Long Way Home

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for emotional thematic material

Details

Official Sites:

Hanway Films

Country:

Australia

Language:

Aboriginal English

Release Date:

31 January 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Long Walk Home

Filming Locations:

Northern Flinders Ranges, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$88,352, 27 November 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$6,165,429, 27 April 2003

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rumbalara Films, The Australian Film Commission, Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Phillip Noyce said of reading the script: "When I started reading the screenplay, I realized it was a very, very special story, and by the end of it, I was close to tears." What appealed to Noyce primarily was the universality of the story. "Although when I started to read I was very aware of the children's Aboriginality, about half way through, they ceased to be black or white, they were just children in distress, powerless, fighting back and finally triumphing. So by the end, it was incredibly uplifting and I thought this was a film that had to be made", he said. "There was also a sense of mission", he added. "In some ways, as with all the films I make, I'm really concerned with engaging the audience, and with moving them, with reaching them emotionally. With this film, there is an added bonus in as much as, it's telling a very significant part of Australian history that by and large has been denied us."

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Goofs

When Moodoo is first seen riding north along the Rabbit-Proof Fence to meet a police constable he's on the west of the fence. Shortly before the actual meeting he's on the east side of the fence.

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Quotes

A.O. Neville: If only they would understand what we are trying to do for them

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Crazy Credits

The painting songs sung by the Walpiri, Amatjere and Wangajunka women were not sacred songs, but were songs able to be performed in public.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Best Films of 2002 (2003)

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Soundtracks

Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)
(1851) (uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
Sung by the children and staff at the Moore River Settlement

User Reviews

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.