I had the pleasure of watching Rabbit Proof Fence on DVD recently. The film is based upon the book by Doris Pilkington who wrote about her mother's life as an Aborigine in Western Australia. It details Australia's shameful past in which the Government decreed that it had the right to forcibly remove all children who were "half-cast" from their native families, so that they could be "bettered", and their racial heritage bred out of them. This practice went on until 1970 - a mere 33 years ago. These people are now called the "Stolen Generations" in Australia. I was appalled by the mentality of the bureaucrats - exemplified by Mr. A. O. Neville (played by Kenneth Brannagh) - because they felt that they were doing this for the good of the "bushman". This story, sadly, is common throughout countries colonised by the British Empire, in which the colonisers attempt to snuff out the indigenous populations by eradicating their culture, language and self-esteem.

The story follows three Aborigine girls: Molly (Evelyn Sampi), her cousin Gracie (Tianna Sansbury), and her younger sister Daisy (Laura Monaghan), who are forcibly relocated 1,200 miles to what can be described as a government re-education camp. The girls are not allowed to speak their native language, and are forced to comply with the rules of the camp - beatings and isolation are the punishment if any of the children disobey. Molly, the oldest of the girls, is also the most knowledgeable about Aborigine hunting and tracking techniques, and eventually she encourages the two girls to run away with her. They then travel 1,200 miles through some of the worst desert conditions in Australia, evading trackers, and police, until they arrive home.

This is an excellent film. It's a delight to watch a film that is directed so skilfully (by Phillip Noyce), shot against an astonishing landscape, with fantastic music, and featuring stand-out performances from every actor. In particular the three girls put in fresh and believable performances. This is extremely important as they carry the movie - they have to grab the sympathies of the audience from the beginning. In the documentary about the making of the film (on the DVD version) it is obvious that Philip Noyce was very aware of the difficulties of making a film, as a white man, about a Native culture, in which all the main actors are women. He handles the material with sensitivity. There is no chest-beating about the evils of white culture, or overt sentimentality about the plight of the Aborigines in the film. The film shows us the events, and leaves it up to the audience to judge; the utter injustice done to the Aborigines is abundantly obvious.