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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Rabbit-Proof Fence Stars: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh, David Gulpilil and Deborah Mailman Director: Phillip Noyce Scriptwriter: Christine Olsen (adapted from the book by Doris Pilkington) Music: Peter Gabriel Miramax Running Time: 90 minutes (partly subtitled) Rating: PG Won major award at Edinburgh Film Festival 2002 The continent of Australia is one of the stars of this heart-wrenching film that concerns children forcibly taken from their home. Based on true incidents and a book of the personal experience of Doris Pilkington, Rabbit-Proof Fence brings the audience into the lives of Aboriginal girls who were removed from their families and lived in dormitories to be trained as house servants for white people. The Australian government firmly believed that this was the proper thing to do because an Aboriginal was not "civilized." (One of the approved songs the children to learn is "Swanee River.") Director Phillip Noyce utilizes unknown actors as the main characters. With Peter Gabriel's haunting score and cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Brad Shield, Australia and its past are opened. The story is about two sisters, Molly and Daisy (Everlyn Scampi and Tirana Simsbury) and their cousin, Gracie (Laura Monaghan) who live with their mothers in Jigalong, int the remote Outback. One day, police officials come to take the girls for "proper training" despite the girls resistance.The girls are supposed to speak only English and answer to the names given to them. Molly, who is fourteen, is resentful and at the first opportunity, escapes with the two younger girls. On the run, they are hunted by a native tracker (David Gulpilil from Walkabout) and the regional government representative, Kenneth Branagh. The girls decide to walk for home following the rabbit-proof fence that runs for 1,500 miles through Australia, in a futile attempt to keep another non-native species in check. Branagh, with his purification-of-the-races ideology, firmly believes in what he is doing but this Australia is a harsh land. It takes a special people to have lived on this continent for thousands of years. Their ways have suited them well, but the last one hundred years, others decided the old ways were obsolete and the new owners of the land prevailed. Families are torn apart and no one pays attention to their plight. Does this sound familiar? Rabbit-Proof Fence has fine performances, especially from Everlyn Sampi as the older girl who has to make decisions of survival for the younger children. Even though they walked over 1,000 miles, their tennis shoes looked remarkably good. The girls have little dialogue, but their expressive eyes speak volumes. David Gulpilil is the tracker who obeys the ways of the new owners of the land, but his body language shows his true feelings. Kenneth Branagh behaves as precise and crisp as a starched shirt, with "bureaucracy" as his middle name. It is Deborah Mailman, an Aboriginal servant girl who befriends the three runaways, that tugs at your heartstrings. The role of a servant girl is not a pleasant lot in life. Aboriginal children were taken from their parents until 1970. The years prior to that are called "The Stolen Generations," as the children's heritage was slowly taken from them and replaced with another culture. Rabbit-Proof Fence is a tearing look at children who want their mother and home above all. Copyright 2002 Marie Asner
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