Rabbit Proof Fence Review - By: Rebecca Kelly

Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Released: 21/2/2002
Cast:
Everlyn Sampi
David Gulpilil
Kenneth Branagh
Deborah Mailman
Tianna Sansbury
Laura Monaghan


If you want to have a feel for what life was like for the Aboriginal people of Australia when Europeans came to this land and an adventure filled true story, then The Rabbit-Proof Fence is the perfect introduction. It explores life in the early 1900’s and how the Government Policies of the day affected one particular group of girls who were Mardu people from the Jigalong area.

Molly, Gracie and Daisy were three young girls who as ‘half-cast’ children living a traditional Mardu lifestyle were taken away by the ‘Protector of Aborigines’. The children were taken 1600 kms away to the ‘Moore River Native Settlement’ that was a dark, oppressive place. The girls escape from Moore River and walk all the way back home following the Rabbit-Proof fence. See the Map on the left that makes you really appreciate how talented and knowledgeable these girls were to make it so far across the desolate West Australian country unharmed whilst being chased.

The movie has great scenery and you really see what it is like in the desert regions of Australia. The issues of the Stolen Generation and practices of the Government at the time are brutally honest and you also see what life was like for the Aboriginal girls/women who worked on the farms and the issue of sexual abuse. The movie makes you angry at the past but also leaves you happy as the girls did make it home to their families. You also get the see Molly and Daisy in real life today as elderly women talking about their travels, lives and the things that they have been through including having their own children taken away (one of them never to be seen again). The film is not about politics, it is just an honest true story of the journey of three young girls who were taken as part of the Stolen Generation and ‘returning’ home.