Director: Phillip Noyce
Text: Film In Rabbit proof fence, I was shocked and disgusted at the treatment of halfcaste children in
Australia during the 1930s. In this text Molly a young halfcaste child is snatched from her
Aboriginal homeland, Jigalong and placed into the Moore river settlement. The characters that run the settlement constrict molly and her sisters of their identity and forcefully inject the trio with their own European beliefs. Miss Jessop (one of the caretakers) overhears Gracie talk in her native tongue, and snaps at her saying
“This is your new home. We don't use that jabber here. You speak English”
. This Angered me as she is withholding their identity from them by not allowing them to even communicate in their own language. The characters in this film do not understand the aboriginal way of life so instead of adapting towards their lifestyle they force halfcaste like Molly, Gracie and Daisy to integrate into the European way of life by ripping away their Aboriginal heritage. I thought this was very unjust and despicable, as they do not even allow halfcastes to live the way they want. “This people... make me sick!”
Says Molly talking about that camp. This showed the audience that she was disgusted by the treatment of the europeans.
Molly the Eldest out of the 3 sees an opportunity to escape and takes it, taking her cousins with her. Instead of allowing her to leave, the supporting European characters try there best to hunt her down, so they can make an example out of her. They used fear and terror to keep kids at the camp, this I thought was cruel on their behalf, as they have to use violence to control kids. Molly makes it home in the end with daisy, but Gracie gets caught along the way. She uses a guide called the rabbit proof fence to get her home. This fence symbolizes Molly’s halfcaste religion as it splits the land in 2 like Molly’s background, as she is half European half