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Rabbit-Proof Fence

 
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Rabbit-Proof Fence

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Rabbit-Proof Fence
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  • Director: Phillip Noyce
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Drama
  • Movie Type: Adventure Drama, Period Film
  • Themes: Social Injustice, Finding a Way Back Home, Runaways
  • Main Cast: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil, Kenneth Branagh
  • Release Year: 2002
  • Country: UK/AU
  • Run Time: 94 minutes
  • MPAA Rating: PG

Plot

After directing a number of major motion pictures in the United States, Australian-born filmmaker Phillip Noyce returned home to make this remarkable adventure-drama, based on a true story as well as a lamentable period in his nation's history. When European settlers first arrived in Australia, there was an almost immediate conflict between the recent arrivals and the nation's indigenous people, whose rich cultural heritage which bore little resemblance to that of the Europeans. By the mid-19th century, when white settlers had gained political control of the continent, many aborigines found themselves removed from their lands and their children taken from them, under the belief that the youngsters would be better off in a more "civilized" environment. Through most of the 20th century, it was official government policy that half- or quarter-caste indigenous children were to be taken from their families and raised as "white" children in orphanages, where they would be trained to work as domestic servants or laborers. In 1931, Molly (Everlyn Sampi) and her younger sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury) and cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan) were three half-caste children from Western Australia who were taken from their parents under government edict and sent to an institution, where they were subject to physical and emotional abuse as they were taught to forget their families, their culture, and their lives up to that point and re-invent themselves as members of "white" Australian society. Gracie and Daisy cling to Molly for support, and Molly decides they need to return to their parents. Molly plans a daring escape, and the three girls begin an epic journey back to Western Australia, travelling 1,500 miles on foot with no food or water, and navigating by following the fence that has been build across the nation to stem an over-population of rabbits. A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), the government functionary in charge of relocating Western Australia's aborigines, takes a special interest in the case of the three girls, and brings in a veteran tracker, Moodoo (David Gulpilil) to help find them, secure in the belief he's acting in their best interest. Rabbit-Proof Fence was based on the acclaimed book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, whose Aunt Daisy was one of the three children who made the extraordinary journey and helped her with the research for the book. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review

Based on Doris Pilkington's novel, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, this odyssey about three young aboriginal girls who escape a governmental internment camp and trek across the outback to return home, is touching, if a little near-sighted. Bringing to the fore the shocking government policy that Australia had in place from the 1930s through the 1970s, whereby "half-caste" children (of mixed aboriginal and white descent) were removed from their families to be trained as domestic servants, Phillip Noyce's film flatly addresses the racism that the country was built upon. Although the trio of youngsters turn in top-notch performances, along with Kenneth Branagh, who is wonderful as the cold, level-headededly brutal politician, A.O. Neville, this strong drama never manages to bring its timely story into the present day. Unable to relate its tale of entrenched racism to our current state of affairs, the film makes the mistake of portraying this historical atrocity as just that: a thing of the past. ~ Rachel Deahl, All Movie Guide

Cast

  • Everlyn Sampi - Molly Craig
  • Tianna Sansbury - Daisy Craig
  • Laura Monaghan - Gracie Fields
  • David Gulpilil - Moodoo
  • Kenneth Branagh - A.O. Neville
Deborah Mailman - Mavis; Jason Clarke - Constable Riggs; Ningali Lawford - Molly's Mother; Myarn Lawford - Mooly's Grandmother; Garry McDonald - Mr. Neal; Roy Billing - Police Inspector; Andrew S. Gilbert - Depot Manager; Ken Radley - Fence Worker

Credit

Laura Burrows - Associate Producer, Christine King - Casting, Roger Ford - Costume Designer, Emma Schofield - First Assistant Director, Phillip Noyce - Director, Ian Jones - Second Unit Director, Veronika Jenet - Editor, John Scott - Editor, David Elfick - Executive Producer, Jeremy Thomas - Executive Producer, Kathleen McLaughlin - Executive Producer, Peter Gabriel - Composer (Music Score), Roger Ford - Production Designer, Christopher Doyle - Cinematographer, Phillip Noyce - Producer, John Winter - Producer, Christine Olsen - Producer, Craig Carter - Sound/Sound Designer, Christine Olsen - Screenwriter, Doris Pilkington Garimara - Book Author

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Wikipedia: Rabbit-Proof Fence (film)
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Rabbit-Proof Fence
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Produced by Phillip Noyce
Christine Olsen
John Winter
Written by Doris Pilkington (book)
Christine Olsen
Starring Everlyn Sampi,
Kenneth Branagh
David Gulpilil
Music by Peter Gabriel
Cinematography Christopher Doyle
Editing by Veronika Jenet
John Scott
Distributed by Miramax Films
Release date(s) Australia:
4 February 2002
United Kingdom:
8 November 2002
United States:
29 November 2002
Running time 94 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Budget US$6,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue US$6,165,429 (USA subtotal)
£1,368,188 (UK subtotal)
AUD 7,510,545 (Australia subtotal)
Map of the actual Rabbit proof fence showing the trip from Moore River to Jigalong.

Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian drama film based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is a true story concerning the author's mother, as well as two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, in order to return to their Aboriginal families, after having been placed there in 1931. The film follows the girls as they trek/walk for nine weeks along 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong, while being tracked by a white authority figure and an Aboriginal tracker.[1]

The soundtrack to the film, called Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence, is by Peter Gabriel.

Phillip Noyce's search for the Aboriginal actresses who star in the film is described in detail in the "Making Of" on the DVD.

British producer Jeremy Thomas, who has a long connection with Australia, executive-produced the film, selling it internationally through his sales arm Hanway Films.

Contents

The book

The book, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence,[2] was written as the second book in a trilogy by Doris Pilkington Garimara, documenting her family's stories.[3] Caprice, a Stockman's Daughter, was the first book published and won the David Unaipon Award as part of the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards in 1990. In 2002, Doris Pilkington Garimara wrote the third book, Under the Wintamarra Tree, about her own life.

The screenplay was published as Rabbit-Proof Fence: the screenplay Adapted from the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Polkington Garimara. Strawberry Hills, N.S.W. : Currency Press, 2002.

Plot

Set in Western Australia during the 1930s, the film begins in the remote town of Jigalong where three children, sisters Molly, 14, and Daisy, 8, who live with their mother and grandmother, and the cousin Gracie, 10. The town lies along the northern part of Australia's rabbit-proof fence, which runs for several thousand miles.

Thousands of miles away, the "protector" of Western Australian Aborigines, A.O. Neville, signs an order to relocate the three girls to his re-education camp. The children are referred to by Neville as "half-castes", having one white and one black parent. Neville's reasoning is that the Aboriginal peoples of Australia are a danger to themselves and must be bred out of existence. The children are forcibly taken from Jigalong and taken to the camp at Moore River to the south. Half-castes that are of a certain age live at the camps and are taught to become servants for the whites living in Australia.

Molly, Gracie, and Daisy decide to walk back home to Jigalong and escape the camp. An Aboriginal tracker, Moodoo, is called in to find them. However, the girls are well versed in disguising their tracks. They evade Moodoo several times, receiving aid from strangers in the harsh Australian country they travel. They eventually find the rabbit-proof fence, knowing that they can follow it north to Jigalong. Neville soon figures out their motive and sends Moodoo and a local constable, Riggs, after them. However, though he is an experienced tracker, Moodoo is unable to find them. Neville spreads word that Gracie's mother is waiting for her in the town of Wiluna who finds its way to a man who "helps" the girls who then tells Gracie about her mother and that they can get to Wiluna by train, causing her to later break off from the group and attempting to go to Wiluna by train. Molly and Daisy soon walk after her, finding her at a train depot. They are not reunited however, as Riggs appears and Gracie is re-captured. Knowing they are helpless to aide her, Molly and Daisy continue on.

After several more weeks of following the fence, eluding their trackers and trekking through a vast expanse of open desert, the two sisters arrive close to Jigalong, it being implied that their mother and grandmother guided them there through ritual chanting. Though Riggs is waiting there, the town's women have been chanting heavily in the brush, a ritual that Riggs seems frightened of. As he moves through the brush looking for the girls, he encounters two of the women, Molly's and Daisy's mother and grandmother, one, their mother, brandishing a sharpened stick. Riggs is frightened away and Molly and Daisy find their family.

The epilogue of the film shows recent footage of Molly and Daisy. Molly explains that Gracie died by then; that she had never got to go back to Jigalong. Molly also states that she had her own two daughters who were taken from her and how she successfully escaped with one, Annabelle, in much the same manner as in her childhood; she walked the length of the fence back home. But Annabelle, when she was 3 years old, was taken away, much like her mother. Molly never saw her again. In closing, Molly says that she and Daisy "...Will never go back to Moore River. Never."

Public reaction and criticism

The film formed a part of a major debate in contemporary Australia over the stolen generations—where Aboriginal children separated from their parents by the State were taken to residential schools. A.O. Neville, who was portrayed in the film, was the Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia at the time and was responsible for removing the girls from their families.

The film stirred debate over the historical accuracy of the claims of the stolen generation. Some, like Andrew Bolt,[4][5] criticised the portrayal of Neville in the film, arguing that he was inaccurately represented as paternalistic and racist.[4] Bolt also questioned the artistic portrayal in the film of the girls as prisoners in prison garb, chased by dogs and state troopers. He claimed that, in fact, they had been dressed in civilian clothes and tracked by concerned adults fearful for their welfare.[4] He also claimed that when Molly Craig, whose journey was being told, saw the film, she stated that it was "not my story". However, she clarified that statement by saying her story still continued into her adult life and was not nicely resolved as the movie's ending made it appear.[6]

That the story is based on historically true events is not in doubt. The film tells the story from the point of view of the girls and its supporters argue that it is a fair dramatic representation of events as told in the book.[5] It is documented that Molly had a child who was taken away by the authorities.

On its release, the film was shown around the world and won critical acclaim, being nominated for and winning many awards, including those voted on by audiences. Its premiere was held in support of tribal rights group Survival International, who campaign on behalf of Australian aboriginal peoples.

Film Cast

Awards and nominations

Australian Awards

2001 - Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.[7]: Film Script - the Pacific Film and Television Commission Award (Christine Olsen)[8]
2002 - Australian Film Institute Awards[9]
  • Best Film (Phillip Noyce, Christine Olsen, John Winter)
  • Best Original Music Score (Peter Gabriel)
  • Best Sound (Bronwyn Murphy, Craig Carter, Ricky Edwards, John Penders)
2002 - Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards[10]
  • Best Director (Phillip Noyce)
  • Best Screenplay - Adapted (Christine Olsen)
2002 - Inside Film Awards[11]
2002 - New South Wales Premier's History Awards[12]: shortlisted for the The Premier's Young People's History Prize (Christine Olsen and Phillip Noyce)

International Awards

2002 (USA) - Aspen Filmfest[13]: Audience Award, Audience Favourite Feature[14] (Phillip Noyce)
2002 (Switzerland) - Castellinaria International Festival of Young Cinema,[15]
2002 (USA) - The 2002 Starz Encore Denver International Film Festival,[16]: People's Choice Award: Best Feature-Length Fiction Film (Phillip Noyce)
2002 (South Africa) - Durban International Film Festival[17]: Audience Award (Phillip Noyce)
2002 (UK) - Edinburgh International Film Festival[18]: Audience Award (Phillip Noyce)
2002 (UK) - Leeds International Film Festival[19]: Audience Award (Phillip Noyce)
2002 (USA) - National Board of Review Awards 2002[20]
2002 (USA) - San Francisco Film Critics Circle[21]
2002 (Spain) - Valladolid International Film Festival[22]: Audience Award: Feature Film (Phillip Noyce)
2003 (UK) - London Critics Circle Film Awards (ALFS)[23]: Director of the Year (Phillip Noyce, also for The Quiet American (2002))
2003 (Brazil) - São Paulo International Film Festival[24]: Audience Award: Best Foreign Film (Phillip Noyce)

Award Nominations

2002 (Australia) - Australian Film Institute Nominations[25]
2002 (Australia) - Film Critics Circle of Australia Nominations[10] Australia
2002 (Poland) - Camerimage - 2002 International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography[26]: Golden Frog (Christopher Doyle)
2002 (USA) - Golden Trailer Award Nominations[27]: Golden Trailer: Best Independent
2003 (USA) - Golden Globe Nominations[28]: Golden Globe: Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Peter Gabriel)
2003 (USA) - Motion Picture Sound Editors Nomination[29]: Golden Reel Award: Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features (Juhn Penders, Craig Carter, Steve Burgess, Ricky Edwards, Andrew Plain)
2003 (USA) - Political Film Society Awards[30]
  • Exposé
  • Human Rights
2003 (USA) - Young Artist Awards[31]
  • Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress (Everlyn Sampi)
  • Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress Age Ten or Under (Tianna Sansbury)

Classifications and rating

The film is rated PG by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia).[32]

Film reviews

References

  1. ^ "Rabbit-Proof Fence Title Details". National Film and Sound Archive. http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A507777%20Media%3A%22FILM%22;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10. Retrieved 2007-07-28. 
  2. ^ Pilkington Garimara, Doris (2001). Follow the rabbit-proof fence. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0702232815. 
  3. ^ Brewster, Anne (2007). ""The Stolen Generations: Rites of Passage: Doris Pilkington interviewed by Anne Brewster (22 January 2005)". The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 42 (No 1): 143–159. doi:10.1177/0021989407075735. 
  4. ^ a b c "Rabbit-proof myths". bolta@heraldsun.com.au. http://members.optushome.com.au/jimball/Rabbitproofmyth.html. Retrieved 2007-07-28. 
  5. ^ a b "Australian Journalist Questions ‘Stolen Generation’, by Ian S. McIntosh". European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights. http://www.eniar.org/news/Bolt.html. Retrieved 2007-07-26. 
  6. ^ "film commentary by director Phillip Noyce". 
  7. ^ "Premier's Literary Awards website". June 29, 2007. http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/awardsevents/awards/Queensland_Premiers_Literary_awards/. 
  8. ^ "Queensland Premier's Literary Awards". June 26, June. http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/awardsevents/awards/Queensland_Premiers_Literary_awards/Past_Winners/. 
  9. ^ "Australian Film Institute website". June 29, 2007. http://www.afi.org.au/. 
  10. ^ a b "Film Critics Circle of Australia website". June 29, 2007. http://www.fcca.com.au/. 
  11. ^ "Lexus Inside Film Awards website". June 29, 2007. http://www.ifawards.com/. 
  12. ^ "NSW Premier's History Awards 2002". NSW Ministry for the Arts. http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/awards/historyawards/2002%20hist/2002awards.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 
  13. ^ "Aspen Film website". June 28, 2007. http://www.aspenfilm.org/. 
  14. ^ "2002 Aspen Film Awards". June 29, 2007. http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Aspen_Filmfest/2002. 
  15. ^ "Castellinaria International Festival of Young Cinema". June 29, 2007. http://www.castellinaria.ch/. 
  16. ^ "Denver International Film website". June 29, 2007. http://www.denverfilm.org/. 
  17. ^ "Durban International Film Festival website". June 29, 2007. http://www.cca.ukzn.ac.za/. 
  18. ^ "Edinburg International Film Festival website". June 29, 2007. http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/. 
  19. ^ "Leeds International Film Festival website". June 29, 2007. http://www.leedsfilm.com/. 
  20. ^ "The National Board of Review, USA website". June 29, 2007. http://www.nbrmp.org/. 
  21. ^ "San Francisco Film Critics Circle website". June 29, 2007. http://www.sffcc.org/. 
  22. ^ "Valladolid International Film Festival website". June 29, 2007. http://www.seminci.com/. 
  23. ^ "The Critics Circle". June 29, 2007. http://criticscircle.org.uk/. 
  24. ^ "São Paulo International Film Festival website". June 29, 2007. http://www.mostra.org/. 
  25. ^ "Australian Film Institute website". June 29, 2007. http://www.afi.org.au/. 
  26. ^ "Camerimage website". June 29, 2007. http://www.camerimage.pl/. 
  27. ^ "Golden Trailer Awards website". June 29, 2007. http://www.goldentrailer.com/. 
  28. ^ "Golden Globe Awards website". June 29, 2007. http://www.hfpa.org/. 
  29. ^ "Motion Picture Sound Editor website". June 29, 2007. http://www.mpse.org/. 
  30. ^ "Political Film Society website". June 29, 2007. http://www.geocities.com/~polfilms/. 
  31. ^ "Young Artists Award website". June 29, 2007. http://www.youngartistawards.org/. 
  32. ^ Rabbit-Proof Fence, Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia).

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