Rabbit-Proof Fence

Rating:
Summary: It Will Make You Laugh And Make You Cry
Review: Rabbit-Proof Fence is a wonderful film which the world's largest audience, America, has yet to see. Directed by Phillip Noyce of Bone Collector fame, it follows two sisters; Molly and Daisy and their cousin Gracie. Born half-caste children in the 1930's (white fathers with Aboriginal mothers), their fathers have had a quick bit of fun while building a rabbit-proof fence then long since moved on. The fence stretches from one side of Australia to the other. As a law, half-caste children come under rule of a man named Mr A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh). He orders the three young girls to be taken from their mothers and placed in a 'concentration camp' like place over 1500 miles from home. Any girl who tries to escape will be tracked down by a man named Moodoo who will have her punished. The three girls manage to escape into the vast untouched land on a trek back home, covering their tracks on the way. Always one step ahead of Moodoo, they come across the occasional people on their farms. Not knowing who to trust they must take risks. The girls realise that the only way to get back home is to follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence.
I was lucky enough to go to one of the New Zealand Premieres. After recognising the talanted Christine Olsen (Screenwriter/Producer) from the television and newspapers I decided to approach her. What a wonderful woman she was. We talked about all different things for about 15 - 20 minutes and would have continued if only she didn't have to introduce the film. She grabbed the only Press Kit they had there and personally signed it to me which was a real delight. The movie turned out to be brilliant. The screenplay was amazing and the silence said about as much as the words. The young barely trained actresses playing the girls did a magnificent job. Well directed and a must-see for anyone and everyone. It will make you laugh and make you cry but the thing to remember is that it is based on a truely terrible story of Australia's history. >Enjoy<

Rating:
Summary: Rabbit-Proof Fence
Review: I was fortunate to see this movie while visiting Sydney, Australia in February. Having heard about the stolen generation, I was ignorant of the policies established concerning the legal abduction of Aboriginal children from their families until I saw this film based on a true story.

I was expecting a documentary-like, low-budget film. Instead, I found myself captivated on so many levels by a film that was not only well written, but well produced, directed, and acted. I was shocked to find out that this practice was legal until 1970. More importantly, I was amazed and inspired by the determination of Molly, Daisy, and Gracie as they journeyed 1,600 km to return home.

I am presently reading "Rabbit-Proof Fence" written by Molly's daughter Doris Pilkington (Nugi Garimara). I can't wait to see the movie again!

Rating:
Summary: a shame this won't get the recognition it deserves
Review: This is a true story set in 1931 Western Australia, where white people stole half-aboriginal children away from their families and placed them into orphanages, hoping to force them into white society. Three young girls escape the orphanage and follow the rabbit-proof fence across the country, knowing that home is somewhere along it. The whole time they are being tracked.

This is an incredibly touching story that I think everyone needs to see. It is such a shame that this movie will not get the recognition it deserves outside of Australia, especially since America does not have a dissimilar past regarding Native Americans.

The three main characters in the film were girls from aboriginal tribes who had no previous acting experience, and they did a better job than most popular adult actors. I can not praise this film enough; I loved it so much, and knowing that it actually happened had an incredible impact on me. I don't think I'll come across a better film for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: A Universal Wake Up Call
Review: This is probably the most emotional a film has ever made me. It's powerful, disturbing, and full of hope in the same breath. For "westernized" reviewers who acknowledge the content of this movie as an atrocity, this film is a wake up call to truly challenge to your beliefs. If you were in the same situation as a white person in 1931, would you still feel the same as you do now after seeing the movie or would you believe assimilation was the right thing to do? The most important thing to take away from this film is to never forget.

Rating:
Summary: Evil Whites Strike Again ... Yawn
Review: Rabbit-Proof Fence

The essence of this film is racial characterization -- White: Bad/ Non-Whites: Good. Some Whites apparently like movies that make Whites look evil. Part of this is their naive hatred of modern society and their wish to escape to the state of nature (wandering around butt-naked in the sand) that they can enjoy on the two weeks or so when they are allowed out of their offices.

The whole dream is based on the premise of the noble savage. Like so many liberal and PC delusions, however, this too is sadly mistaken. The Aborigines were absolute savages before the British came and anything that Whites did to civilize them was a blessing. The new Australia is keen to promote the cuddly koala image of the Aborigine to encourage tourists (and immigration) from Asia. This is highly ironic because in 1875, around 85 Chinese miners on the Palmer River (a notorious event in Australian history) were killed and cannibalized by these brutal savages.

For those more interested in historical facts than PC spin I recommend "River of Gold: The Story of the Palmer River Gold Rush" by Hector Holthouse, "The Passing of the Aborigines: A Lifetime Spent Among the Natives of Australia" by Daisy Bates, and "Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice" by G. Hogg.

Daisy Bates (1859-1951), a social worker who devoted her life to Aborigine uplift, also wrote that "baby cannibalism was rife among the central-western peoples." She wrote of Dowie, a member of the Baadu tribe, who went through four wives, killing and eating them as he tired of them.

Seen in this light, the attempt by the Australian government to redeem these half-white children from such a savage legacy does not seem quite so bad. Once again the truth gets in the way of using Whites as stock villains.

[...]

Rating:
Summary: Empathy
Review: There can be little question that, were the shoe on the other foot --that is, if the government of the United States or England decided to take away the children of an entire demographic, say the children of southern whites or of people living in one of England's numerous rust belt ex-cities of the sort that seem to give ingrown rise to skinheads and white supremacists-- we would be reading some very different views from the racists on the topics explored in Rabbit Proof Fence. Can you imagine your neighbor's two kids being being carted away by the local sheriff without a fight? It wouldn't happen. Yet some people keep posting reviews that urge common, decent folk, like you and your neighbors, to support the sort of policy depicted by Rabbit Proof Fence. Incredible.

As bleak as Rabbit Proof Fence is at times, the story is, as many here have noted, really one of hope, of the triumph of the human spirit. It is a beautiful demonstration of resisting and overcoming gross social injustice. THAT'S the LESSON of this film. And besides being a great adventure trek story in it's own right, the film stands as a reminder: the only thing necessary for something like this to happen again -- to any race, any place, any moment-- is for the human capacity for empathy and seeing things FROM the other person's life-vantage to pass away without resistance. THAT'S why the voices of haters and racists deserve not censorship, but simply to be drowned out-- smothered completely-- by the voices of reasonable people who HAVEN'T lost their ability to empathise and identify and feel compassion for people who aren't exactly like them. To haters, empathy is a mystical process. They don't get it, and they hate it because it poses THE central threat to their ability to induct the disenfranchied and gullible into their intellectually and emotionally stunted army of the Got-It-All-Wrong.

This film is great, and the DVD contains some very fine supporting material, in the form of the audio commentary and making-of documentary. It will make an absolutely superb addition to any library or school DVD collection. Five stars+.

Rating:
Summary: Molly Craig: "This is not my story." (Film is good though.)
Review: This rather well made & enjoyable Australian film is billed as a true story. We are shown an individual, half-caste, Aborigine girl by the name of Molly Craig as she is forceably taken from her mother and thence to a place called Moore River to be brought up amongst whites. All the children at Moore River, we are led to believe, have similarly been remanded here for their own good and against their and/or their parents' will; the director all the while conveying the view that---in this manner---the Australian government went about trying to extiguish Aborigine culture, by removing half-caste (ie., those with one white parent) Aborigine children from their families to be brought up as white. The focus of this film concerns a young girl (named Molly) as she walks over a thousand miles back to her mother, after she escapes (with her 2 sisters) from Moore River. The guardian of that institution (played by Kenneth Branagh) is portrayed as one determined to locate these girls and have them forceably brought back for their own good. It's a remarkable story actually---the girl Molly did in fact walk over a thousand miles! back to her mother & home in the 1930s (by following a low "rabbit proof fence" through western Austalia. The real Molly Craig, when viewing this film, however, declared "This is not my story." She wasn't actually taken by force, for instance. Her step-father even consented to her being sent to Moore River. Moreover, the 1936 Royal Commission into treatment of Aborigines showed that 1,003 of Moore River's 1,067 children weren't "stolen" but voluntarily brought by their parents to get a schooling or be safe ; for their own good (as half-castes were sometimes harrassed and/or shunned by other Aborigines). Read all the details yourself from the Australian Civil Liberties Union at this address: (www.angelfire.com/folk/aclu/yr22.htm) To boot, the illiterate girl who portrayed Molly Craig in this film herself ran away from the making of this picture; not once, but twice! And after the film was completed she was then sent to boarding school by the director (yes she was brought back twice too, to complete the film) until she decared she didn't want to be there either; wanting simply to go home---a desire she was ultimately granted. The director declared that he was only trying to help her---notwithstanding the film's Kenneth Branagh character saying the same thing in the film while being presented as a racist. Mind you, I LIKED THE FILM. It was well shot. The children actors were very believable. The Australian landscapes involved herein were captured to great effect too. The problem is---after reading up on this for several hours on the internet---I know not what's true and what isn't concerning the story of Aborigines in Australia; except that the director of this film apparently took an awful lot of liberties with the story on which he based Rabbit Proof Fence. That the director had the audacity to put a photo of the real Molly Craig at the end of the film, too, inclines me to not recommend this film. But I won't go that far since I actually liked the film. Instead, let me suggest that you not take all you see and hear in this film as necessarily part of the notion that "This is a true story." And should you decide to give this film a try do at least have a look at the article I've indicated above. Thanks for reading my thoughts herein & I hope you take them in the spirit in which they were offered; honestly, I find it hard to understand why folks wouldn't want more information when it's rather pertinent, I think. Cheers!

Rating:
Summary: Mandatory
Review: I'm ashamed to admit that until I saw RABBIT-PROOF FENCE I had never heard of the horrible injustice dealt out to the aboriginal people of Australia.

Until 1970 any half-white, half-aboriginal child (or "un-caste") could legally be removed from their family and taken to a camp where they were taught the Christian religion and the white man's ways until eventually they married a white. They never saw their family again.

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE is based on the true story of three girls (Molly 14, sister Daisy 8 and cousin Gracie 10) who in 1931 were outside playing when a police car came up and stole them from their screaming mother's arms. They were caged and shipped 1,200 miles across Australia to the Moore River Camp where they were held in prison like conditions including sharing a bucket with about 30 other girls, if you know what I mean, while being taught how to sing "Swanee River".

Then they escape and start walking.

One of the things that impressed me the most is if you watch the "making of" on the extras menu you get to follow director Phillip Noyce in his hunt to find aboriginal non-actors to play the three main girls. Tianna Sansbury who is heartbreaking as the youngest girl, Daisy, was picked only a few days before filming began!

I cannot say enough good things about this film. Powerful story, wonderful performances, great score by Peter Gabriel and breathtaking scenery. You can't go wrong with RABBIT-PROOF FENCE.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING...Saw this movie twice!!!
Review: I saw this movie twice, what a gripping story...I couldn't help but feel anxiety watching this movie of these three girls on their journey back home. I was glued to this movie. What a tear-jerker so have the tissues ready. It goes to show that strong will, strong love and a brave soul will get you anywhere!

Rating:
Summary: Painful Movie!
Review: This movie was set at the time of ascendancy of the Nazis and an upswell of immigration restrictions based on race (or ethnicity) throughout Europe, and in America as well. In this movie, however, the racism is portrayed as a "gentle" sort of racism where half caste girls are being isolated and educated for their own good, noblesse oblige at its finest (or at its worst). One striking point in the movie was when the administrator shows a number of slides where aborigines become more and more white, as succeeding generations intermarry more and more with whites.

This was a very painful movie to watch. I could imagine the three girls wondering what they did wrong to be taken from their homes and from their parents to what could only seem to them to be a prison. The arrogance of the administrator was very difficult to watch also. He seemed to believe the clichés that he was tossing about regarding the simplicity of these people, and their need to come under the white man's beneficence. But in today's world he appears more like a slavemaster.

The aborigines are portrayed as slaves. The tracker was obliged to stay at the camp or lose his daughter. Girls were not allowed to speak when they ate, and would be placed alone in an exposed box for the least infraction, reminiscent of the torture box in Bridge on the River Kwai.

There is nothing uplifting in this movie, except for the determination of the girls to set a goal and follow it. But in the end, their efforts were illusory. Don't expect any good or warm fuzzy feelings from this. Instead, be prepared for a couple of hours of a very, very difficult and painful experience.