Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
On the Right Track
A car emerges from behind a dusty bush. Maude (Ningali Lawford) yells, “Run,” to her 14-year old daughter Molly, while she grabs two younger girls by the hand. They all run. The car drives through the dust, between the runners and a fence. It cuts them off. The driver, Riggs, is a policeman. He gets out, and grabs one of the girls. Cramming her into the back of the car, he says, “I have the papers Maude. It’s the law. There’s nothing you can do.”
Riggs grabs the second girl and throws her in the car. Now, he comes back for Molly. He tears her away from Maude. As he tries to open the car door, Molly jams her feet against it. But it is useless. Riggs gets her in and drives away: the three girls inside, crying; Maude on her knees in the dust, wailing.
It is 1931, in Jigalong, a remote desert community in Western Australia. And Riggs (Jason Clarke) is right: It is the law.
Mr. Neville (Kevin Branagh) is Chief Protector of Aborigines. He is concerned about half-castes, and he has decided that Molly (Everlyn Sampi), her sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), and cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan), should be sent to Moore River Native Settlement—far, far away from Jigalong. There, “Hundreds of half-caste children have been gathered up,” Neville says, “to be given all the benefits our culture has to offer,” and, incidentally, trained to become domestic servants and farm laborers.
Soon after their arrival at Moore River, the three girls see Moodoo (David Gulpilil), an Aboriginal tracker, bring back a girl who tried to escape. Moodoo brings back all the escapees.
Mr. Neville visits Moore River regularly. He inspects the new children—to determine if they are white enough to go to proper school because, as one of the other girls tells Molly, “they’re more clever.” Neville examines Molly, looking at the skin on her neck, and comes to a decision—“No.”
One Sunday, Molly decides to go home. While the other children go to church, she takes Daisy and Gracie with her—without food, without provisions. The tracker follows them.
Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on the true story of Molly, Gracie, 10, and 8-year-old Daisy, their escape from the Moore River, and their attempt walk home the more than 1,000 miles home, guided by the rabbit-proof fence that runs from the North coast of Western Australia to the South.
Director Phillip Noyce, back in his home country for the first time since Dead Calm (1989), worked from a spare, elegant script by Christine Olson—based on a book by Doris Pilkington Garimara (Molly’s daughter). Director of photography, Christopher Doyle, provides the hallucinatory, shimmering shots of scorched desert lands, that are accompanied by Peter Gabriel’s hypnotic, pulsating score (which was nominated for a Golden Globe).
Branagh reveals the real-life Neville—called “Mr. Debil” by the Aborigines—in all his scary, functionary reasonableness. Gulpilil is eloquent as the seemingly implacable Tracker—when Riggs abandons a three-week vigil, waiting for the girls to arrive, Gulpilil conceals his smile and delivers almost his only lines in the movie. “She’s pretty clever,” he says of Molly, “She wanna get home.” She is clever—and resourceful, cunning, and determined—and Everlyn Sampi gives a radiant, heart braking performance.
—John Bloomfield (27 January, 2003)
A car emerges from behind a dusty bush. Maude (Ningali Lawford) yells, “Run,” to her 14-year old daughter Molly, while she grabs two younger girls by the hand. They all run. The car drives through the dust, between the runners and a fence. It cuts them off. The driver, Riggs, is a policeman. He gets out, and grabs one of the girls. Cramming her into the back of the car, he says, “I have the papers Maude. It’s the law. There’s nothing you can do.”
Riggs grabs the second girl and throws her in the car. Now, he comes back for Molly. He tears her away from Maude. As he tries to open the car door, Molly jams her feet against it. But it is useless. Riggs gets her in and drives away: the three girls inside, crying; Maude on her knees in the dust, wailing.
It is 1931, in Jigalong, a remote desert community in Western Australia. And Riggs (Jason Clarke) is right: It is the law.
Mr. Neville (Kevin Branagh) is Chief Protector of Aborigines. He is concerned about half-castes, and he has decided that Molly (Everlyn Sampi), her sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), and cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan), should be sent to Moore River Native Settlement—far, far away from Jigalong. There, “Hundreds of half-caste children have been gathered up,” Neville says, “to be given all the benefits our culture has to offer,” and, incidentally, trained to become domestic servants and farm laborers.
Soon after their arrival at Moore River, the three girls see Moodoo (David Gulpilil), an Aboriginal tracker, bring back a girl who tried to escape. Moodoo brings back all the escapees.
Mr. Neville visits Moore River regularly. He inspects the new children—to determine if they are white enough to go to proper school because, as one of the other girls tells Molly, “they’re more clever.” Neville examines Molly, looking at the skin on her neck, and comes to a decision—“No.”
One Sunday, Molly decides to go home. While the other children go to church, she takes Daisy and Gracie with her—without food, without provisions. The tracker follows them.
Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on the true story of Molly, Gracie, 10, and 8-year-old Daisy, their escape from the Moore River, and their attempt walk home the more than 1,000 miles home, guided by the rabbit-proof fence that runs from the North coast of Western Australia to the South.
Director Phillip Noyce, back in his home country for the first time since Dead Calm (1989), worked from a spare, elegant script by Christine Olson—based on a book by Doris Pilkington Garimara (Molly’s daughter). Director of photography, Christopher Doyle, provides the hallucinatory, shimmering shots of scorched desert lands, that are accompanied by Peter Gabriel’s hypnotic, pulsating score (which was nominated for a Golden Globe).
Branagh reveals the real-life Neville—called “Mr. Debil” by the Aborigines—in all his scary, functionary reasonableness. Gulpilil is eloquent as the seemingly implacable Tracker—when Riggs abandons a three-week vigil, waiting for the girls to arrive, Gulpilil conceals his smile and delivers almost his only lines in the movie. “She’s pretty clever,” he says of Molly, “She wanna get home.” She is clever—and resourceful, cunning, and determined—and Everlyn Sampi gives a radiant, heart braking performance.
—John Bloomfield (27 January, 2003)
posted by John Bloomfield at 7:37 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home