Rabbit Proof Fence

Imagine that strange people have come to your home and told you that you can’t live there anymore then they took away your children along with your culture. This term we have been studying a very sad but extremely important part of Australian history; the stolen generation. The stolen generation refers to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families under a government policy and sent away to learn white ways. Most of the families that had been separated due to the policy never saw each other again. The policy began in 1909 and continued until 1970, the 1967 referendum for Aboriginal citizenship was one of the major factors in bringing an end to the policy. During this topic we looked at several different texts two of which were a documentary on ‘sorry day’ and our main text which was the movie titled ‘The Rabbit Proof Fence’

The Rabbit Proof Fence is a very inspiring film about three girls, Molly (14), Gracie (10) and Daisy (5). Who are taken from their mothers and sent to Moore River Native Settlement, an institute where half-caste children are sent to be trained to be labourers and household servants. But the girls make the brave decision to run away home to see their mothers. The movie follows their daring and dangerous journey home but in order for them to get there they must find the rabbit proof fence which will guide them in the right direction. The scene where the girls are being taken away is very confronting as it makes you feel as if you are there with the girls. The film techniques used in this scene are very effective, for some of it the camera is moving along while the girls and mothers are running away from constable Riggs this makes the audience feel as if they are running too. For other parts there is low angled close up shots of Riggs which helps emphasize the fact that he is the dominant character. Another scene that uses a low angled close up shot is the scene where Molly