Film Review: Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
Every country has a dark chapters in its history and that includes even countries with short recorded history like Australia. One of those dark chapters included the treatment of native population by white settlers, which some Australian historians at the end of 20th Century equated with genocide, sparking intense debate known as “History Wars”. Most artists in Australia, like in the rest of the world, are leftists and take “politically correct” position, so, somewhat unsurprisingly, director Philip Noyce took very clear side in his 2002 period drama Rabbit-Proof Fence.
The film is based on the eponymous 1996 book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, which dealt with the true event that took place in the western part of Australia in 1931 and which involved author’s mother Molly Craig and two of her cousins. 14-year old Molly (played by Everyln Sampi) is mixed race child of Aboriginal mother and white father and is officially considered to be “half-caste” Australian government. Official policy at the time mandates that such children must be assimilated into white Australian society, even if it requires force and taking them away from their families. Molly and her cousins are brought to Moore River Native Settlement, institution where are supposed to receive education and learn skills necessary to get jobs and marry white men in hope that their “Aboriginal blood” would be diluted in number of generation. This is the plan promoted by A. O. Neville (played by Kenneth Branagh), Chief Protector of Aborigines. In reality, the institution is run like concentration camp, with native children being subjected by tight discipline and corporal punishment. Molly and her two cousins – 8-year old Daisy (played by Tianna Sansbury) and 10-year old Gracie (played by Laura Monaghan) – decide to escape and return home, which happens to be in Jigalong, small settlement on other side of the continent. Thankfully, children can find their way if they follow the thousands of mile long fence, built years earlier in order to protect the farms and crops by rabbits that that they had been brought by white settlers and became uncontrollable pests. As three girls take their hard and dangerous journey, they are pursued by Moodoo (played by David Gulpillil), Aboriginal tracker hired by Neville to bring them back.
Philip Noyce had quite an impressive career in Hollywood, with many successful action films and thrillers. Rabbit-Proof Fence is something obviously closer not only to his home but also to his heart – a genuine attempt to right some of his country’s wrongs. Noyce has a lot of talent and the film works as docudrama that wears its anti-racist and anti-authoritarian message on its sleeve, but also uses barren but impressive landscape of Australia to deliver adventure story in a tradition of Walkabout, famous 1971 film which featured Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil in his best known role. Like Nicolas Roeg three decades earlier, Noyce has also cast young Aboriginal actresses in their respective roles, but their relative lack of experience becomes somewhat apparent in contrast to veteran Kenneth Branagh who plays one of the most dangerous real life villains – a person who honestly believed that what he was doing was not only right, but for the good of his victims. Rabbit-Proof Fence is powerful film, but much of its power is diminished by rather un-cathartic finale. On the other hand, music by Peter Gabriel, which mixes Aboriginal motives with New Age sounds, is quite memorable. Rabbit-Proof Fence is good film that, despite its flaws and despite taking a clear stance in long and complicated debate, should be recommended not only as an intriguing story but also as thought-provoking history lesson.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
_
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax y
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
Posted using CineTV