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:

stolen generation | australian aborigine | australian outback | half caste | escape | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

As each day of filming went by, the lack of acting experience of the three central young Aboriginal cast members was revealed as a bonus. Director Phillip Noyce explained: "We were never looking for professional technique from these kids, and preferred them not to be knowing." Instead, Noyce had searched for what were the basic personality traits that each one of them brought to their parts. Importantly, Noyce emphasized "that he wanted them to be children, innocent, helpless, and trying to cope with a very difficult situation."

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Goofs

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.

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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

Referenced in Gulpilil: One Red Blood (2002)

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Soundtracks

The Rabbit-Proof Fence
Vocals by Myarn Lawford, Ningali Lawford', Sheryl Carter
Berimbau: David Rhodes
Drone: Quantec
Other [Kaliuka]: Dmitri Pokrovsky

User Reviews

Phil Noyce gives us film poetry, not propaganda

MILD SPOILER AHEAD: This is the 200th film I have reviewed for IMDb and one of the most satisfying. Phil Noyce has produced here a piece of cinematic poetry when it could have easily been tendentious agit-prop. The story from the 1930s of three half-cast aboriginal girls walking 2000 km of Western Australia to escape the clutches of white assimilationists is seen through their frame of reference. We see the harsh beauty of the countryside as they do, not an alien landscape but as their back yard. They have all been brought up in the desert and together know how to survive, a point eventually realised by their pursuers, who then lie in wait at their destination.

The three young girls, Mollie, Grace and Daisy, are stunningly portrayed by Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sainsbury and Laura Monaghan. Molly, at 14 the oldest, has the largest part but the three of them function together as if they really were sisters. Their mother and grandmother , played by Ningali Lawson and Myana Lawson (daughter and mother in real life) are equally convincing, as is David Gulpilil as the relentless black tracker.

The most difficult role in the film is that of A O Neville (Mr Devil, as the aborigines called him), Chief Protector of Aborigines, a sincere and energetic advocate of the monstrous policy which resulted in a generation or more of half-cast children being removed from their families. It would be easy to pillory Neville as a monster, but Kenneth Branagh manages to give us a rounded picture of a man who was not inhumane, who tried to advance what he saw as the welfare of his charges despite lack of money and enormous logistical problems (not to mention an unco-operative police force). Had it not been for these obstacles the aboriginality of Australia would probably have been reduced to a few scattered reserves in the deserts run as freak shows for tourists.

Some critics of the armchair lefty variety have criticised the movie as not being political enough, and its true there's plenty of room for righteous (or leftist) indignation on the topic of the stolen generation, but I think a more overt political message would have diminished it. Imagine say, if John Pilger had made this film. Instead we have a near-classic. Never I have I seen the visual power of the Australian landscape better depicted, and seldom have I seen a better celebration of the human spirit. And this is a true story. The real Molly and Daisy take their bows at the end. Things didn't quite work out for them the way they might have, but they survived and stayed with their people.

Details

Official Sites:

Hanway Films

Country:

Australia

Language:

English Aboriginal

Release Date:

31 January 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Filming Locations:

Northern Flinders Ranges, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$88,352, 1 December 2002

Gross USA:

$6,199,600

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,217,411

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