Barnes & Noble

The true story of three Aboriginal girls' bravery and determination is told with power in Rabbit-Proof Fence, an inspiring labor of love from director Phillip Noyce. The film is set in 1931, when an Australian government official (Kenneth Branagh) is authorized to remove "half-caste" children from their families and assimilate them into Caucasian bloodlines. The story follows three girls who escape from captivity to walk 900 miles back to their home village, where their mother awaits. Noyce lets nothing interfere with this simple and affecting drama. Instead, he relies on superb, unadorned performances. Branagh provides the star power, but his acting is a marvel of understatement, bringing a dry touch to his portrayal of a smug, horribly misguided bureaucrat. The three girls (all first-time actors) steal every scene, particularly Everlyn Sampi as the oldest, whose confident, mysterious charisma becomes the center around which the emotive force of the film revolves. Also striking is the performance of David Gulpilil as an Aboriginal tracker who pursues the girls wordlessly throughout the film. Although the girls are clearly shown to be victims of a systematic and tragic injustice, the film refuses to sentimentalize; while acknowledging victimization, it is more interested in celebrating the girls' spirit and empowerment. Also adding to the film's effect are camera work by virtuoso cinematographer Christopher Doyle and Peter Gabriel's brilliant score, which is infused with native music and the sounds of the Outback. The result is a beautiful, haunting film that is nothing short of an instant classic. Gregory Baird

All Movie Guide

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

Entertainment Weekly

Noyce honors the story best by standing back (and getting Kenneth Branagh, as a supercilious official, to stand back, too): Noyce lets the landscape and the untrained young actresses own the screen, particularly the naturally magnetic Everlyn Sampi. Lisa Schwarzbaum

Time Magazine

This is a chase movie (Simon Legree after three Little Evas) across parched outback terrain, captured with rapturous authenticity by cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Richard Corliss

Chicago Sun-Times

1/2
The final scene of the film contains an appearance and a revelation of astonishing emotional power; not since the last shots of Schindler's List have I been so overcome with the realization that real people, in recent historical times, had to undergo such inhumanity. Roger Ebert

New York Post

Noyce paces this amazing story well, and even if his young actors don't seem to have physically suffered as much as they would during such a long journey, he makes extremely good use of the bleak Outback scenery. Lou Lumenick

Product Details

• UPC: 786936199338
• Source: MIRAMAX
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Time: 1:34:00
• Sales Rank: 13,722

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