Backbencher

The film Rabbit Proof fence is the compelling tale of three young girls taken from their home and placed in a facility for the re-education of "half caste" children. Most of the other children at the facility have come to accept what has happened and cooperate, for the most part, with their captors. Molly, the eldest of the three, escapes taking her two charges with her. Throughout there long trek back to their home in Jambara the girls are haunted by weariness, thirst, hunger, and an Aborigine tracker intent on rounding the girls up and returning them to the facility. The decision to follow the rabbit-proof fence, though seemingly very clever on the part of Molly, preves near disastrous for the trio. Following the misleading advise given to the girls by a man they cross paths with, Gracie, the middle child, is taken and so only the other to actaully reach Jambora where there "protectors" await them.

I found this film to be both shocking and eye-opening. I didn't realize how recently these laws were abolished nor had i been able to conceive how traumatic the situation really was. As stated in class by another student, it is one thing to read about these events in a text book and another to actually see them. The sense of loss by the children's family, the girls' longing to return home, and the sense of failure of the British "protectors" are equally heartbreaking. I was also disturbed by the use of an Aborigine tracker to hunt down and capture the girls. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, seeing as how early Americans used Native American tracker to locate Indian tribes and the both the British and Americans use them against eachother during the Revolutionary War. I would strongly recommend this film as it was both interesting to watch and short enough that it avoided feeling drawn-out and tedious.