Rabbit-Proof Fence

PG	Rottentomatoes.com Rating: 87%	2002
(Thematic material)	Picky Flicks Quote: "With the simplicity and force of a well-crafted fable, Rabbit-Proof Fence is an elegant film that...is moving without being didactic" -James Kendrick	RUNTIME: 93 mins.
Visit:www.screenit.com for complete details		Movie Mood: In Awe

Rabbit-Proof Fence is a heart-wrenching movie and one that should make you angry. Contributing to the movie’s power are the wonderfully natural performances from its three young leads, who are all amateur actors. In fact, the film’s most easily recognizable face is Kenneth Branagh who plays the worst kind of villain: the kind who does evil in the name of “good,” the kind who truly believes (or at least loudly proclaims) that he is doing the world a favor. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Branagh’s character is that his obsession is tempered only by his calculation. He is one cold fish.

It’s 1931 in Australia, and the government is intent on “purifying” the country’s aboriginal population. No, this is not the Holocaust, but it rings an eerily familiar bell as soldiers stomp through the bush, dragging “half-blood” children away from their aboriginal mothers (their fathers are white), hauling them thousands of miles away from their homes, and then shutting them up in a camp where they are forcefully "Christianized" as they learn the art of becoming household servants. It is all they are fit for, after all, and it’s certainly all such misfits should be allowed to do. Or so believes A.O. Neville (Branagh), Chief Protector of the Aborigines (yes, that is his real title). He is committed to breeding these mixed children into extinction by force if he must. The clinch of his jaw, the glint in his eyes, the bloodlessness of his words and actions all points to his controlled hatred of everything these half-bloods represent. He is willing to do most anything to achieve an end, in this case their end.

But Neville gets more than he bargains for in three plucky mixed girls he captures from the wilds and hauls 1,500 miles away from their home to a “re-education center.” Fourteen-year-old, Molly, her eight-year-old sister, Daisy, and their ten-year-old cousin, Gracie, escape the moment they can and begin the arduous trek toward home across the arid Australian wilderness. Their only hope? Finding the thousands-of-miles-long “rabbit proof fence” built by Australia’s equally tenacious settlers. If they can find it, it just might lead them home, but only if they don’t get caught by Neville and his goons, namely a highly trained tracker known simply as Moodoo.

Sound impossible or like a contrived Hollywood scenario designed to ratchet up the tension and
happy ending quotient? Maybe, but it isn't.

The events of Rabbit-Proof Fence are based on the true life experiences of the oldest girl and ringleader, Molly Craig. In fact, although it gives away the ending a little and certainly lessens the "feel-good" message of power of a can-do spirit, the fact of the matter is that Molly made this trip not once, but several times throughout the course of her life, trumping her captors’ determination with a fierce independence and resolve that are rare indeed.

The majority of the movie focuses on the girls’ flight as they forage for food and the other necessities that will sustain them on their journey—all while outwitting a posse of skilled adults bent on their recapture. There isn’t a lot of dialogue or high-octane action, to be sure, and yet, it is difficult to tear your eyes from the screen. This is partly due to the fierce beauty of the Australian desert, which is almost a character in the movie in its own right. And then, there are those moments of shoulder-tensing suspense as the girls come thisclose to being caught.

But the most puzzling question to me was why? Why did Neville insist on chasing three little girls about whom he cared nothing through the wilds when he could have easily left them to die and gotten it over with. The answer lies chiefly in pride, I think. His is injured by the resourcefulness of three children whom he has branded as intellectually inferior and less deserving than himself. But even more disturbing is the misplaced fanaticism of his belief that he is charged by God to fulfill his “duty” as the Aborigines’ “protector.” It’s a favorite Hollywood trick to demonize (huh, funny choice of words) Christian characters, and it usually makes me angry. But, despite Neville’s religious proclamations, there is so clearly nothing Christian about him that it was difficult for me to even relate to his claims, associate them with what I know to be true of Christianity, or even be offended.

Despite its intense premise, Rabbie-Proof Fence occasionally casts a peaceful, almost hypnotic spell over the viewer, as we observe the girls’ connection with nature and the grandeur and majesty of the creation through which they plod. Most of the time, however, it is a harrowing experience, one that will leave an indelible mark on your memory and maybe even your conscience.

Until next Wednesday, stay picky! Your mind will thank you later.