Rabbit-Proof Fence | | Cast : | Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh | | Director : | Phillip Noyce | | Studio : | Miramax Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | January 25, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 09, 2005 | | Summary | A must-see film | Content
 | I originally saw this film in our local theater and left singing its praises. I recommended Rabbit Proof Fence to every friend I have, and I think the DVD does a worthy job of bringing the film to the small screen.
In addition to the film itself, the DVD has only a few special features. The most moving by far was the behind-the-scenes documentary. At one point, they show how filming the scenes of the girls being ripped away from their mothers affected the entire cast and crew. Clearly, this film didn't only touch its audience but everyone involved in making it.
See the movie; buy the DVD. It's a must-have for anyone whose collection includes thoughtful, thought-provoking works. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 08, 2005 | | Summary | Fascinating | Content
| We've been trying to see this film for a while now, after having missed it in the theater. I was interested because it had a score by Peter Gabriel, who has great taste for movies with which to lend his efforts (e.g., Birdy, The Last Tempation of Christ). It also had Kenneth Branagh in it, whom I don't follow as much as I used to given his recent track record, but when he's good, he's very good. And in this movie, playing the part of Mr. Neville, the "Aborigine Protector" of Australia for 25 years, he shines. There's nothing more unctuous than a man who thinks he is doing the right and noble thing, which we can view in hindsight as a truly horrible policy.
The story is set in 1931 during the Australian relocation of half-caste children to an orphanage that tried to instill white culture and identity on them. The three girls that the story follows are taken from their home and transported to the Moore House 1200 miles away, then run away to make their way back home by walking, mostly using the rabbit-proof fence as a guide. The director doesn't attempt to explain much beyond the initial subtitles that set the time and scene; in fact, in some scenes, his "show" has to be interpreted, albeit it is usually obvious enough (such as the white man visiting the half-caste cleaning woman on his farm in the middle of the night). Branagh's Neville is a central focus, ostensibly the villain of the movie, but he comes across as simply a bureaucrat with no empathy for the aborigines that he is supposed to be the protector of. The scene in which he explains his goal of breeding the color out of the half-castes makes clear that his protectorship was more oriented to the whites than the aborigines.
One finishes the movie simply shaking your head in disbelief. It's hard to conceive walking 1200 miles (or more, given the wrong turns and need to avoid capture) across the Australian outback without dying of hunger or thirst or simply getting lost. And it's hard to believe in a people that would engage in such practice of separating mother from child, as recently as 1970. As Americans we can't be too critical of the Australians, however, because our actions with our own indigenous people were hardly noble or just and just occured a few decades before the Austrialian debacle.
I enjoyed Rabbit-Proof Fence, although I'm not sure I'd recommend it to just anyone. It's pleasantly short, which is good, because there wasn't any need for it to be longer given the story, but also the brevity helps the film make its point without belaboring it. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 01, 2005 | | Summary | from molly's mouth to doris's ear | Content
| According to Molly's own daughter, Doris, Molly said 'this is not my story' because her story did not end at the happy point that the film stopped on. Unfortunately Molly later lost 2 daughters to that self-same Moore school. Simply watch the film, and the special features (which are excellent). Listen with your ears not your biases and you will hear for yourself.
This is a touching, moving, unforgettable film about another appalling moment in human history. A must see. Thank goodness the filmmaker chose to end on a high note, anything else would have been unbearable. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 30, 2005 | | Summary | Molly Craig: "This is not my story." (Film is good though) | Content
| This rather well made & enjoyable Australian film is billed as a true story. We are shown an individual, half-caste, Aborigine girl by the name of Molly Craig as she is forceably taken from her mother and thence to a place called Moore River to be brought up amongst whites. All the children at Moore River, we are led to believe, have similarly been remanded here for their own good and against their and/or their parents' will; the director all the while conveying the view that---in this manner---the Australian government went about trying to extiguish Aborigine culture, by removing half-caste (ie., those with one white parent) Aborigine children from their families to be brought up as white. The focus of this film concerns a young girl (named Molly) as she walks over a thousand miles back to her mother, after she escapes (with her 2 sisters) from Moore River. The guardian of that institution (played by Kenneth Branagh) is portrayed as one determined to locate these girls and have them forceably brought back for their own good. It's a remarkable story actually---the girl Molly did in fact walk over a thousand miles! back to her mother & home in the 1930s (by following a low "rabbit proof fence" through western Austalia. The real Molly Craig, when viewing this film, however, declared "This is not my story." She wasn't actually taken by force, for instance. Her step-father even consented to her being sent to Moore River. Moreover, the 1936 Royal Commission into treatment of Aborigines showed that 1,003 of Moore River's 1,067 children weren't "stolen" but voluntarily brought by their parents to get a schooling or be safe ; for their own good (as half-castes were sometimes harrassed and/or shunned by other Aborigines). Read all the details yourself from the Australian Civil Liberties Union at this address: (www.angelfire.com/folk/aclu/yr22.htm) To boot, the illiterate girl who portrayed Molly Craig in this film herself ran away from the making of this picture; not once, but twice! And after the film was completed she was then sent to boarding school by the director (yes she was brought back twice too, to complete the film) until she decared she didn't want to be there either; wanting simply to go home---a desire she was ultimately granted. The director declared that he was only trying to help her---notwithstanding the film's Kenneth Branagh character saying the same thing in the film while being presented as a racist. Mind you, I LIKED THE FILM. It was well shot. The children actors were very believable. The Australian landscapes involved herein were captured to great effect too. The problem is---after reading up on this for several hours on the internet---I know not what's true and what isn't concerning the story of Aborigines in Australia; except that the director of this film apparently took an awful lot of liberties with the story on which he based Rabbit Proof Fence. That the director had the audacity to put a photo of the real Molly Craig at the end of the film, too, inclines me to not recommend this film. But I won't go that far since I actually liked the film. Instead, let me suggest that you not take all you see and hear in this film as necessarily part of the notion that "This is a true story." And should you decide to give this film a try do at least have a look at the article I've indicated above. Thanks for reading my thoughts herein & I hope you take them in the spirit in which they were offered; honestly, I find it hard to understand why folks wouldn't want more information when it's rather pertinent, I think. (04Dec) Cheers! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 25, 2005 | | Summary | This is an excellent film! | Content
| I looked at this film about a year ago and recommended it to alot of my friends and they all felt, me included that it was an excellent film.
Not only was it captivating, but it was also very touching as well as educational. The journey the girls had to endure, the scenery and the interview at the end gave credibility to this story.
This is a must see for students studing civil liberties in high school and college.
Upon reading another review, it was mentioned that the story was not true and aborigines were not forced into these racists camps but they went voluntarily and the story is a fabrication. The reviewer went so far as to post a website source written by none other - Andrew Bolt - of the Herald Sun which by the way is a subsidiary of Fox News Corp. This webiste offers a very critical view of the movie as being a fake but it is just an opinion. If you're looking for facts, go to the australian government website and do your own research.
Like I mentioned previously, it's an excellent film and I highly recommend it.
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