Rabbit Proof Fence
Matinee with snacks
If you're not familiar with the subject of this film, as I was not, then get out there and see it. It truly defies description, though I will do my darnedest to give you a sense. From 1905-1971, the Australian government would take "half-caste" children - born of one white and one aborigine parent - away from their happy bush homes and put them in a rough, strict orphanage, Moore River. There they would, essentially, train them to be not themselves. Ostensibly, this was for the childrens' good; to educate them and introduce them into "civilized" (i.e. white) society. Of course their motives were far more sinister, and no one whispers a word about the scandalous origins of such unfortunates. Naturally, the government has to kidnap these children, as no one wants to volunteer. Mothers never see their children again.
This is not even what the movie is about - this is just the setting. Three of these girls, Molly, Gracie, and Daisy, ranging in age from 8 to 14 years of age, are taken one day in 1931 - and they escape. This film is their fantastic journey home: 1200 miles across Australia's most unforgiving central terrain. The real Molly, now 85, bookmarks the story of 9 weeks of her life at age 14, with her own narration. This is a truly amazing story, and beautifully done.
I must give you the names of the actresses who play the girls - they are delightful and warm and so very adult. Molly was played with great strength and beauty by Everlyn Sampi, Gracie by Laura Monaghan, looking very vulnerable, and Daisy by Tianna Sansbury, trusting and sure of Molly.
Besides the astounding nature of this odyssey for freedom, which alone makes for a gripping film, we also have the efforts of Mr. A.O. Neville, a.k.a. Mr. Devil (Kenneth Branagh) to retrieve them. Mr. Neville is the official government Guardian of all Aborigines in Australia, and his chase after them speaks volumes about white Australian viewpoints, priorities, and unwillingness to understand their native brethren. While Neville's Moore River wardens teach the children painfully ironic songs like "Swanee River" and "all Creatures Great And Small," they are systematically trying to eradicate the native culture iof Australia. Unlike the case of America's own native tribes, as we all know well, the white man failed in Oz. It is heartening that the tale is so shocking even to our colonialist eyes.
Cinematographer Christopher Doyle (1998's Psycho) does not so much film the miles and miles of unforgiving outback as absorb it into his camera. The girls tunics, matching the yellow dust of the earth even when new, disappear against the harsh wilderness. All we can see, thinking about the film, are their brave eyes and tiny, tiny footprints in a sea of emptiness. One is constantly struck with how amazing this journey is; there are too few words expressing awe in my vocabulary. Instead of going the noble and distant Ulysses route, director Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, The Quiet American) keeps us close to the children. Every step is taken with skill, luck, charity, and determination, and we never lose touch of the overwhelming nature of the trek.
Peter Gabriel enthralled us all with his score for the Last Temptation of Christ; here he incorporates recorded sounds of the outback, menacing and beautiful and organic, mixed with his own unique instrumentation. It's as if the land is speaking directly to the camera. What dialogue exists is very sparse, like the greenery, but the music and the action constantly communicate. After seeing this, I will want to read the book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, the daughter of Molly, from whose work Christine Olsen adapted the screenplay.
It's wonderful - go see it.
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These reviews (c) 2002 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. reviews@cinerina.com Check out previous reviews at: http://www.cinerina.com http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource http://www.mediamotions.com for 1999 releases
========== X-RAMR-ID: 33758 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 828455 X-RT-TitleID: 1114595 X-RT-SourceID: 755 X-RT-AuthorID: 3661 X-RT-RatingText: 4.5/5
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