Rabbit-Proof Fence

SYNOPSIS

Though rather worthy and self-important, director Phillip Noyce's superbly photographed true-life drama is not without impact as it throws light on a shameful period in Australia's past. In 1931, 14-year-old Molly (Everlyn Sampi) is interned by the Australian government as part of their policy to forcibly integrate mixed-race Aborigines into white society (a policy that continued up until the 1970s). Molly escapes with her younger sister, Daisy, and cousin, and walks the 1,200 miles back to their loving family using the fence that bisects the continent (it was erected to keep rabbits from the crops) as a guide. The children are wonderfully natural, Kenneth Branagh is excellent as misguided politician AO Neville - who apparently truly believed "racial cleansing" was for the greater good - and David Gulpilil is superb as the resentful Aborigine tracker employed to hunt down the youngsters. It's just a shame that Noyce's predictable direction often fails to emotionally engage us with this shocking "stolen generations" story - based on the book by Daisy's daughter - that is given extra poignancy by the appearance of the real-life Molly and her sister in the heartfelt epilogue.