Review of Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) by Lauren W — 31 Jan 2010

Rabbit Proof Fence is a movie about three Aborigines girls who are taken away from their families and escape a camp to get back home. The movie is based on a true story novel by Doris Pilkington Garimari named Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence. It is just one of the stories of half castes children that were torn from their homes and put in Moore River Native Camp.

The story begins in the town of Jigalong where the 3 girls live. There are sisters Molly Craig (14), and Daisy Campbell (8) who live with their mom and grandmother and their cousin Gracie Fields (10). Their lives are changed when the Protector of Western Australia Aborigines signs papers for them to be taken from their families to be brought to the Moore River Native Camp. While in the camp the oldest of the three Molly hates the camp. She spends the whole time she is there studying the place to figure out the best way to escape. There is a very good tracker named Moodoo that will hunt them down once they try to flee the camp. One day she gets her best opportunity to escape when a storm is coming. Molly and the other two girls escape just before the rain sets in. This allows the girls to run while having their tracks covered. The first difficult part of the journey is finding the Rabbit Proof Fence which runs from North to South across all of Australia. The Girls home is in Jigalong at the north part of the fence. The girls do a good job of covering their tracks and getting some help making their way to the fence. The girls walk the fence trying to avoid capture. One day the girls meet up with a man who tells Gracie her mother is in Wiluna and she can get there by train. She splits from the other two girls and goes to the train station. Molly decides to go after her but when she gets there it is too late because Gracie is captured. After this Molly and Daisy continue to follow the fence to their home avoiding capture and surviving the harsh terrain. They finally get to Jigalong after 9 weeks and 1700 miles.

The movie relates to world religions in several ways. First of all it shows how indigenous people and religions have been persecuted and not respected. It also relates by showing a small look at indigenous beliefs. They make reference to the Great Spirit bird. They believe the bird protects and watches over them. There are also several scenes where the mother and grandmother are chanting. It also shows how much respect they have for the earth and nature. The girls used nature on their journey to stay alive and keep them hidden.