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Deesha Thomas' commentary on Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
Review Copyright Deesha Thomas, 2003
Action: A white man comes--with a gun and the law of the land on his side--to snatch three young girls away from their family, from the wilderness of the only home they have ever known. A distraught mother screams for the girls - her daughters and a niece - to run! But the white man catches the girls and flees. The dusty, barren earth cakes the mother's brown skin as she collapses, writhes, inconsolable. Her wails pierce the heart as well as the ear, transcending this time and this space; it is the cry of generations past and generations to come.
And cut.
When I witnessed the preceding scene on the big screen, it was disturbingly familiar. Countless Africans and Africans in America were ripped away from loved ones in this fashion. My reaction was familiar, too. No matter how many times I read about or watch such scenes, I am always filled with rage and utter despair. This particular scene, however, is not set in the Deep South or anywhere on the African continent. This time, it is the Aboriginal settlement at Jigalong in the Australia bush that serves as backdrop and silent witness to a black mother's anguish and government-sanctioned injustice, in the film Rabbit-Proof Fence.
This film is based upon the true story of three Aboriginal girls, ages eight to fourteen, forcibly removed from their families as part of the Australian government's racist program to "protect" and "civilize" mixed-raced children. Between the 1ate 1800's and 1970, tens of thousands of such children, known today as the "Stolen Generations", were taken to live in institutions far away from home. The goal of the program was to eradicate all trace of Aboriginal culture and influence from these children. Most were trained to be domestic servants for whites, while the lightest (and presumed brightest) were educated and prevented from marrying "full-bloods". In the film, A.O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines (portrayed dispassionately by Kenneth Branagh) explains to a group of middle-class white ladies how careful "breeding" of such "half-castes" with Europeans would yield successively lighter generations able to "pass" and assimilate into white society. He hoped, after a few generations, to turn blacks into whites. "In spite of himself," Mr. Neville says, "the native must be helped." With good reason, the Aborigines nicknamed him "Mr. Devil".
(WARNING: **spoilers below**)
The rabbit-proof fence of the film's title runs north-south across Australia and was built by white workers. The workers' encounters with Aboriginal women in the outback led to a surge in births of mixed-race children. Avoiding the clutches of the police sent to capture them becomes a way of life for these children and their families. In 1931, Molly, her younger sister Daisy, and their little cousin, Gracie, are captured near the rabbit-proof fence and taken to the Moore River Native settlement.
If anyone still doubts the politics of hair - black hair - in particular, I offer life at Moore River as Exhibit A. Sure, the children are filthy, dressed in sackcloth, malnourished, and forced to share a bucket for a toilet. Their hair, however, is neatly cut in the latest European styles because "wild" hair just won't do in proper white society! In a rather telling scene, a runaway girl is captured and brought back by the settlement's reluctant Aborigine tracker, Moodoo (played by David Gulpilil). Beating isn't a sufficient punishment for the girl; her hair must be cut off as well.
Molly, Gracie, and Daisy eventually escape Moore River, and with perseverance and courage in amounts no child should ever have to demonstrate, they begin to walk the 1,200 miles back home.
Word of the girls' escape soon spreads around the country, and a manhunt is underway. The girls' ability to stay one step ahead of Neville and the police undeniably refutes the very claims of intellectual inferiority used to justify their imprisonment.
While their determination is admirable, to say the least, the fragility of these children as they make their way home is terrifying to watch. Despite their bravery, they look for all the world like vulnerable little rabbits themselves, confronting natural and human foes. The acting is impeccable. Even with minimal dialogue, it is amazing what these girls convey with their faces, with the tears they shed, and those they don't.
Australian director Phillip Noyce launched a country-wide search for Aboriginal girls to play the three lead roles. The girls chosen bring not only authenticity but true natural talent to their roles. Not only had they never acted before, they'd never seen a movie before. Everlyn Sampi, a real standout as Molly, worked without the benefit of a script because she could not read. (To Noyce's credit, he arranged for the three lead actresses to receive schooling after the film wrapped and continues to make himself available for support and direction.) The realism all the actors brought to their roles must be credited to their abilities. However, it has been reported that every single Aboriginal cast member has had at least one family member stolen; I imagine this contributed to depth of their performances as well.
A ten-year veteran of Hollywood films such as Patriot Games with Harrison Ford and The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington, Noyce marks his return to Australia with Rabbit-Proof Fence. Noyce's casting and location choices, and his subtle, let-the-story-speak-for-itself directing, reveal his respect and concern for the subject matter. Why he didn't choose an Aboriginal musician to compose the film's score is a mystery, though. Still, Peter Gabriel's combination of sounds of the bush and traditional Aboriginal music is sufficiently haunting and compelling.
The screenplay for this film was adapted from a book written by Molly's daughter, Doris Pilkington Garimara. Though Garimara's life is not detailed in the film, it is worth noting that at the age of four, Garimara herself was taken from Molly, and did not see her again for twenty-five years, eight of those spent at Moore River.
The story of the Stolen Generations is a story the world needed to be told. It is unfathomable, but true, that some Australians continue to write this tragedy off as a myth. Despite a preponderance of evidence to the contrary--including A.O. Neville's memoirs - these nay-sayers insist the mixed-race children were rejected and abandoned to the settlements by their Aborigine families, or that the government took them away because of parental abuse and neglect. Paper-thin justifications, denials, blame-the-victim mentality: like the mother's cry, another familiar, discordant song.
The children and other characters in Rabbit-Proof Fence remind us how minds and spirits aren't as easy to colonize as lands and bodies. Still, there is no simple happy ending to this very intense and important film.
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