Rabbit-Proof Fence

Rating:
Summary: Good Movie
Review: Watching this movie about three girls removed from their home and sent to a camp that would train them into the "white" society reminds me of a book written by a mixed-raced African who was sent to an orphanage for mixed children. The girls I believe were colonialism's "accidents". The children who were mixed were ostracized by both Aborigines and whites because of their dual heritage. The school was supposed to "whiten" them, which not only meant that they were to be trained as domestics, but to be lightened to make the country more white.
Colonialism and imperialism demoralized itself, trying to do right for the natives by forcibly imposing their culture on a people who already had a culture and a way of living. The victims in the movie were the girls because of their racial makeup feared that they would be an imposed threat to society. This movie I highly recommend for anyone of all backgrounds.

Rating:
Summary: Genocide / True Story? Who Knows, This is a great movie!
Review: I watched this movie tonight with my three girls. It didn't matter to me if it is 100% factual. It is based upon a true story, which could mean the directors or authors opinion of the actual facts. To me, all movies are skewed, sometimes the director has to take an angle when the actual events are gray. I felt this was a GREAT MOVIE. My daughters are 11,9 and 5. The five year thought it was a little boring in spots, but the 9 and 11 cried through much of the ending. They loved it. This is a wonderful movie to open up for discussions on civil rights, slavery, racism or the strength of family. One could argue if Camp Moore was not a bad place for these three girls. It looked like it was a pretty clean and and safe place, but ultimately it wasn't home. I recommend this movie, not as a depiction of history, but as good movie. Also, the landscape of Australia and the photography throughout the movie was well shot.

Rating:
Summary: It's power lies in its beautifully constructed images
Review: In a time where movie producers are continuously trying to one-up each other with bigger-and-badder CGI spectacles, watching a film like this is refreshing. Completely stripped of pretension, prettiness, and unneccasary dribble, it is a story that speaks directly to the heart. Director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American) and D.P. Christopher Doyle give us a vast and seemingly endless Australian desert landscape. In tune with the wonderfully placid score by Peter Gabriel, the results are hypnotic and compelling. There are stretches where very few lines of dialogue are spoken. The camera simply places these three young girls in the harshest reaches of the desert terrain, and we understand, if only slightly, what the real experience must have been like.

The film tells a simple story of what it means to feel secure as a child and be with family. It also explores the effects of an age old racial stereotype that was then policy of the Australian government; Blacks must integrate and adjust to white society. And worse, Blacks are not able to raise their own children. It works because it does not trap itself inside a fixed and conventional narrative. Noyce explores his themes well, without throwing them in our faces as so many films regrettably do. We as the viewers are immersed into the journey across 1,500 miles of unforgiving desert, as the young girls try to outmaneuver the men sent to recapture them.

This is a beautiful film in its ability to captivate and move us in unexpected ways. The last few shots show us the two surviving sisters, now old and weak, and we hear Molly in voice-over tell us how their family is still being ruined by racial prejudice. We sympathize with them, of course. But we notice they are smiling, unwavering in their optimism and love of life. They lost a sister on their journey back home, and Molly lost her daughter for good. But something deep down in the heart tells them to keep going.



Rating:
Summary: A Courageous Tale
Review: This is another of my favorite foreign films,if I can call it that?This is a fantasticlly told story of actual events....three young girls stolen from their homes by the British/Australian Government back in the 1920's.It is so sad&sickening things like this occured as a means of integrating natives into a European way of life.The ends don't justify the means,and took the British Government another 50 years to realize this.The US is not alone,as the US Goverment practiced this durring the late 1870's into the 20th century until they decided that is was morally and ethically wrong.It was the same for the Australian Governemnt and was'nt enough to destroy a culture&one's way of life,but to forcively enslave a human being into a way of life that is so alien to him/her it was beyond cruelty.I found myself to the point of of being so T'd off and angry on this subject I was making up new curse words.Rabbit Proof Fence plays so fluidly from begining to end showing the struggle these three girls went through,and the heartships they had endured durring the very long journey back home.This film is exceedingly interesting to watch both historically and entertainment wise.You will love this film&be captured by it's portrayal..it is well worth a look&to own.