Rabbit-Proof Fence  (2002)

Starring: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, David Gulpilil
Director: Phillip Noyce

Rating: PG

Studio: Miramax

Review Posted: 12.28.02

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara M. Fetters

"Rabbit-Proof Fence Achieves Spellbinding Brilliance"

"Those other kids were taken, they were much younger. They didn’t know mother. But I was older. I knew mother. I wanted to go home to mother." – Molly Craig (85yrs), Jigalong, Western Australia, August 2002.

Between 1905 and 1971, the Australian government forcibly removed Aboriginal children from their homes, raising them in specially designed camps training them to be domestic servants. The rationale for doing so was to "improve" the lot of the indigenous people by placing them with white families in hopes of producing children of mixed races who, over the generations, would become whiter and whiter thus removing the black color from Australia.

Based on a true story, Rabbit-Proof Fence is the true story of three such children removed from their homes in Jigalong, Australia in 1931 and transported 1,200 miles away from home to the Moore River settlement. The girl’s white fathers were rabbit-fence workers who have since moved on from Jigalong, so Mr. AO Neville (Kenneth Branagh) – the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia – deems this move of the "half-cast," or children with one white parent, girls will only improve their lot in life.

This does not sit well with Molly (Everlyn Sampi), the eldest of the three. She wants to go home to mother Maude (Ningali Lawford). What more, she is going to take her little sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury) and their cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan) with her. Thus begins their long trek back to Jigalong, following the rabbit-proof fence hopefully all the way home.

Rarely does a film this profoundly inspiring and life affirming come along. Director Phillip Noyce and screenwriter Christine Olsen – working from a novel written by Molly’s granddaughter Doris Pilkington Garimara – achieve something luminous with Rabbit-Proof Fence. Rarely has a film about a dark period in a country’s history been handled with the ultimate care and hard-hitting examinations offered here. Entering that austere pantheon of Australian outback classics like Walkabout and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Noyce’s film is a profound wonder.

The children – all in their first film – of the piece are stunning. Their faces are filled with pain and hardship and yet seeped in haunting beauty of a wind swept landscape. They carry the film to majestic heights, the young Sampi a wonder. It is a shame this young girl won’t be remembered come Oscar time, for hers is the metal that binds the whole film together. It is one of the most remarkable child performances of all-time.

Noyce is working on all cylinders, as if the small budget and intense dynamics of Rabbit-Proof Fence have brought out the best in him. Known more for his bloated Hollywood thrillers like The Saint and The Bone Collector, it is nice to see him using his skills in a more concentrated fashion. Color and nuance saturate the picture, the bright light of the Australian sun boiling over the horizon of the films intentions.

There is not much really to say about Rabbit-Proof Fence other than it is a hallmark film for the ages. In many ways, 2002 had the look of being a remarkably weak year for film, but in the last three months all that has changed. What with Far From Heaven, Adaptation, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Chicago, Secretary and now this, the end of this year has seen some of the most notable filmmaking imaginable. A must-see in every respect, Rabbit-Proof Fence is a harrowing, spellbinding affair.

Movie Rating: 4 stars (out of 4)

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