(rated PG-13, 96 mins.)
The year is 1931,and Australian director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, The Quiet American) takes us into a fact-based journey into another world (his homeland) – the world of three “half-caste” aboriginal girls forcibly separated from their mother by the government. The law has introduced a policy of removing children of mixed marriages from their Outback communities in an attempt to avoid further racial mixes. Heading the government insanity is Mr. Neville, whom Kenneth Branagh plays with such understated and flawless certainty that his monster character almost seems forgivable. Molly, Gracie and Daisy, ages 8 to 11, make a break from the settlement camp where they’ve been relocated, in a passionate attempt to get back to their mother. The problem? It’s only 1,500 miles away by foot through desert, brush and hard terrain. But the rabbit-proof fence (built to keep bunnies from eating the continent, apparently) is what they follow to find their way home. Somewhat hallucinatory, the story moves us with its mirage -liked visuals and its authentic atmosphere to create a gritty look into this shameful chapter of history. The three little girls, Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, and Laura Monaghan play the runaways with a piercing innocence. But the show is almost stolen by David Gumpilil, the ebullient aboriginal actor whom many remember from Walkabout, now transformed into a tracker so grim and implacable as to be a new kind of movie monster.
