2002 - Dir: Philip Noyce
Show at The FeckenOdeon on 28th January, 2006
“Rabbit-Proof Fence” takes the lid off a scandal that has rocked Australia to its redneck roots. Between 1910 and 1970 it was government policy to remove mixed-race Aboriginal children from their parents in order to breed the colour out of them. Few films have created such a powerful stink as this true-life epic about three mixed-race girls who walked 1,200 miles home after being “stolen” from their mothers in the 1930s. According to the Chief Protector of Aborigines (Kenneth Branagh), there is no room for “an unwanted third race”. The Australian government attempted to suppress the film and spent a fortune on advertising designed to whitewash a disgraceful aspect of life down under. The film will speak for itself but it’s sobering to reflect that what you will see tonight actually happened and was still happening in the 1970s.
The film is based on the book written by the daughter of one of the girls and had its premier on an outdoor screen in the village of Jigalong where the girls were taken from and where they still live.
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