Product Details

• Actors: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil, Ningali Lawford
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (241 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JLD3

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Based on a true story, Rabbit-Proof Fence moves with dignified grace from its joyful opening scenes to a conclusion that's moving beyond words. The title refers to a 1,500-mile fence separating outback desert from the farmlands of Western Australia. It is here, in 1931, that three aboriginal girls are separated from their mothers and transported to a distant training school, where they are prepared for assimilation into white society by a racist government policy. Gracie, Daisy, and Molly belong to Australia's "stolen generations," and this riveting film (based on the book by Molly's daughter, Doris Pilkington Garimara) follows their escape and tenacious journey homeward, while a stubborn policy enforcer (Kenneth Branagh) demands their recapture. Director Phillip Noyce chronicles their ordeal with gentle compassion, guiding his untrained, aboriginal child actors with a keen eye for meaningful expressions. Their performances evoke powerful emotions (subtly enhanced by Peter Gabriel's excellent score), illuminating a shameful chapter of Australian history while conveying our universal need for a true and proper home. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

In 1931, three Aboriginal girls fled a state-run native settlement in Western Australia and walked more than twelve hundred miles to their home village. The director Phillip Noyce presents their journey in a straightforward way, giving patient attention to the desolate landscape and the almost wordless resolve of the girls. The movie only hints at the cruelties inflicted on the Aborigines, but the hints are enough. A heartbreaking, elemental film. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

134 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courage and determination during a dark chapter of history, December 7, 2002

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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Between 1905 and 1971, the Australian government had a horrible policy. They forcibly removed all half-caste Aboriginal children to special training schools. The grown daughter of one of these children wrote a book about her mother's experiences. This film is an adaptation of that book.

The story takes place in 1931, when Molly, then 14, her sister Daily, then 8, and her cousin Gracie, then 10, are literally torn from the arms of their mothers, put in a cage, and taken 1,200 miles away to a school which is actually a sort of prison. Here, they are forbidden to speak their own language, they have to attend a Christian church, and are taught the ways of the white Australian culture around them. Led by Molly, the girls run away. And most of the film is the odyssey of their trek back home, following the rabbit-proof fence that bisects Australia, constructed to keep rabbits out of the pastureland.

The villain is clearly the white director of the school. It is amazing, but he actually believes in the racial theories that were prevalent at the time. He believes he is helping them and plays his role well, coming across as stupid and misguided rather than evil. The Aboriginal girls are all unknowns, and terrific actresses, as are the women who play Molly and Daisy's mother and grandmother. The courage and determination of the girls during their three-month journey, the people they meet along the way, and their efforts to dodge the trackers who have been sent to retrieve them by the school, is truly inspiring. This is all set against the backdrop of the Australian outback; the cinematography certainly captures its beauty.

The film is 94 minutes long and moves quickly. I immediately identified with the girls and felt their fear as well as their bravery as they made their way across the Australian continent. In a postscript to the story, we learn more about their lives. It did not turn out to be pretty. But two of the girls have survived into their nineties, and we meet them briefly. They are strong women with weathered faces, one of them walking with a cane, but clearly at home in their Outback surroundings.

The film is a lesson in inspiration and courage as well as a geography and history lesson about Australia. I loved it and highly recommend it.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Film about Australia's "Stolen Generations", May 14, 2003

By 

Kevin Caffrey (Fredericksburg, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rabbit-Proof Fence (DVD)

Based on (part of) a true story, "Rabbit-Proof Fence" details the long journey that three young aboriginal girls embark on after being forcefully taken from their family in order to learn how to "fit into" a white society.

The story is fascinating, and the execution from director Phillip Noyce is stunning. This is a perfect film for history teachers to show their students. The performances are very natural and winning. Peter Gabriel's score is excellent - with the music playing over the closing credits being some of his best work ever (and appearing in a slightly different form as "Sky Blue" on his 2002 album, _UP_).

If you have seen this movie and enjoyed it, the DVD is a keeper. The audio commentary from Noyce is superbly done. In addition to giving the viewer background as to how and why he did the movie, he also offers up some interesting tidbits about the difference between working on mainstream films ("Clear & Present Danger," "Sliver," etc.) and smaller films like "Rabbit-Proof Fence" and "The Quiet American." A good documentary is included as well.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch the absorbing documentary..., June 7, 2003

By 

Whodathotit "whodathotit" (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rabbit-Proof Fence (DVD)

I won't gush on and on about the excellent movie. I want to bring your attention to the "Making of" documentary. So often these are thrown onto a DVD as a "bonus", but amount to nothing more than a refried re-telling of the film. Here, instead, we are treated to forty-five minutes of how Philip Noyce selected his three young actresses, and all the trials and tribulations that entailed. The scene in the film of the three children being taken from their mothers is a very heart-wrenching scene. But, moving beyond compare is that same scene as caught by the "making of" cameras during and after the shoot. Many of the people behind the cameras were in tears during the actual filming of the scene. At the end of the scene, the character mothers are on the ground crying and Noyce yells, "CUT!". He looks down and you can hear the actresses still crying. He looks up and around the camera with a puzzled look on his face to see if perhaps the actresses did not hear him yell, "CUT". They are all still on the ground sobbing, and he has to go over to console them, saying "Woa, Woa, Woa..." to calm them down and bring them out of it because everyone was so drawn into the event they were reenacting they forgot they were only filming a scene. That was very moving to see how the girls and women were so affected by the filming of that scene. Insights such as this are what make the "Making of" documentary actually worth watching after the film itself.