Although it's a story told in few words, the three extraordinarily photogenic faces of the first-time actresses are haunting, long after the fade to black. Their portrayals are entirely believable and engaging. Brannagh, as the chillingly misguided Chief Protector, displays the arrogance of European colonial perceptions of superiority with skill. Gulpilil as Moodoo who although has not and will not stop seeking the girls, almost cheers whenever clever little Molly eludes him. Sampi's indefatigable Molly, never exhibits defeat only defiance and determination. All three girls are excellent, turning in performances untouched by guile or affectation.

Molly's mother, played by Ningali Lawford, oozes the longing for her children with her constant watching along the line of the fence with no words, just her eyes. In a scene where she confronts the law enforcement officer who took her children away, the strength of a mother's anger is powerful and palpable, although again, no words are spoken in the scene.

Peter Gabriel's soundtrack, made from adapted traditional Aboriginal music, is so haunting, as to take on it's own character in the film. The cinematography captures the sprawling Australian wilderness without overwhelming the image of these three tiny girls, walking, walking, walking....

The film allows us a view of the subtle and overt cruelty that European colonisation and racism creates, and the dogged pursuance of questionable values. The Aborigines in the story are subhuman to the colonists; as such, there is no wrong doing in their inhumanity. In fact, Mr Neville so convinces himself and his supporters of this policy, that the abduction and 're-education' of 'half-caste' children went on until the 1970s.

The Australian government created what has been subsequently called, the "Stolen Generations" among the Aborigine population. The Aborigines still suffer the effects of the child stealing. Many of their children, lost to the white world, have never returned home.

The film is impressive in every way; touching chords within the soul, and taking us on that internal journey that humanity faces when the inhumanity of ourselves turns back on itself. It's important because it tells the story of the suffering of the Aborigines in Australia, and exposes the hidden genocide against them. The sadness of the tale, enrages the heart of the conscious against the ignorance and self absorption of European colonisers, and the callousness with which they treat other cultures and races. It also, for this writer at least, allows one to remember the similar suffering still going on today.

This story's strength is not in it's angry portrayal of injustice, but in the gritty determination of the girls not to become victims to the racist policies of invaders and usurpers. We find definitive resistance and ultimately the victory of the human heart.

the goddess room: Rabbit Proof Fence