Rabbit-Proof Fence (2003)
Rating (1 to 10) : 6
Summary: Three half-white, half-aboriginal girls try to return home after being forcibly separated by the Australian government to preserve their white blood.
This movie covers a sensitive and embarassing subject in Australian history, when the Australian government deliberately separated “half-caste” (half-white, half-aboriginal) children from aboriginal families and institutionalized them so as to prevent them from having children with pure aboriginals. The government felt that it was important to preserve the half-white blood of the children. Left unsaid is that it didn’t care for aboriginal blood, which was deemed as inferior.
Molly, her sister Daisie, and her cousin Gracie, are all half-castes who live with their single mothers. Information comes to the Australian official, Mr. Neville (Kenneth Branagh, Gen. Heydrich in “Conspiracy”), who is in charge of handling half-castes and he decides to remove them from their mothers and place them in an institution, so as to prevent them from intermating with other aborigines and instead have them assimilated into the white culture. Branagh plays the villain well, an unemotional man who thinks he is doing right and thus commits immoral acts without passion; his performance was just like his role in “Conspiracy.”
The three girls are forcibly taken from their family, placed in a cage like animals, and sent to Moore River, the institution for half-castes. After arriving at the institution, Molly, Daisie, and Gracie decide to run away and return home…by walking.
The cinematography is beautiful as you see the wide open landscape of the Australian outback, similar to the American Southwest. The clear blue skies and vast horizon make the land immense and distant. Yet the girls trudge on, facing challenges as they continue. They are guided by a seemingly endless fence put up to keep rabbits out; as it runs north-south, it becomes their Northern star. All the while, Mr. Neville marshals all law enforcement and government agencies to find them and return them to Moore River.
One criticism I have is how they edited the movie so that days elapsed between scenes when the girls are trudging home. It makes their journey seem slight, which it wasn’t.
Why you should or should not see this movie:
This isn’t most exciting movie but it is a “human spirit” story. The cinematography of the Australian outback is adds a lot to the film. It is a true story and tells of a dark episode in Australian history.
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