Children are forcibly taken from their mothers and put into a camp where they're threatened with physical punishment if they don't follow orders. Sounds of a girl being whipped for running away. The three main kids flee and go on a perilous journey, evading their captors. It's suggested that a White man raped his aboriginal servant.
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The film is based on a book by Aboriginal Australian female author Doris Pilkington Garimara, who was inspired by her mother's real-life experience escaping an internment camp. Three girls, played by Aboriginal actors Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, and Laura Monaghan, are depicted as courageous and smart. Rabbit-Proof Fence shows a side of Australian history that isn't seen often, making it an important document.
Molly, Daisy, and Gracie show great resilience, courage, and teamwork as they flee from kidnappers. A.O. Neville follows cruel orders as part of his job and enforces dehumanizing policies.
Positive Messages
a little
Emphasizes the importance of loving your family and culture while living under oppression. The film depicts the damage and cruelty inflicted by racism.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Rabbit-Proof Fence is a historical drama about the Stolen Generations based on a book by Aboriginal Australian author Doris Pilkington Garimara, inspired by her mother's story of forced displacement. Violent, scary moments include seeing children being taken away from their mothers and put in camps, the sounds of a child being whipped, and girls fleeing the camp and being pursued. Bare breasts are seen from afar in a nonsexual context, and "damn" is the strongest word used. Adults smoke cigarettes and talk about tobacco. Positive messages include the children showing love for their family and culture despite the way they're treated by damaging, racist laws. Main characters Molly (Everlyn Sampi), Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), and Gracie (Laura Monaghan) show great resilience, courage, and teamwork as they flee from their kidnappers. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
I'm surprised by the sanitized family discussion topic recommendations given for this movie by Common Sense Media because they leave out the real deal. This movie is a jaw-dropping and heartwarming depiction of the amazing resilience of three mixed-race girls who run away from oppressive and degrading circumstances in Australia in the first part of the 1900s after being kidnapped away from their mothers and homes by the so-called "Protector of Aborigines."
As "half caste" children of white fathers and Aborigine mothers, Molly, Daisy and Gracie are all subject to removal under the policies of the day, from the loving family and community where they belong, for the overtly racist purpose of raising them in white culture and breeding them with whites so that their own children and grandchildren supposedly may no longer be "tainted" by Aboriginal genetics. After the girls are ripped from mother's arms by state agents and carried to a home for children managed by white nuns 1200 miles away from home, 14-year-old Molly determines they will not stay. Although many children have tried to run away before them, they are always returned through the wiles of an Aborigine tracker who follows their footsteps. Molly however is herself well-versed in ways of tracking and finds ingenious methods of evading the expert's eye through many miles of wilderness, with 8- and 10-year olds in tow. The full force of state power is also on their trail, sending cars and publishing repeated bulletins to the public for their recapture. Many persons help the girls along their way, and their own expert knowledge of the environment and a spirit of fortitude help them along, even through the hot desert, and without maps to guide them. Over two months later, two of the girls arrive at home to a joyous greeting, the third having been recaptured when she attempted to board a train to meet her mother in a neighboring city.
The acting is convincing and effective. Visual effects are well-done and the landscape and peoples of Western Australian are beautifully portrayed. There is a lovely scene in the beginning where Molly is congratulated by her family after she tracks down a large lizard and extracts it from a tree for the family's supper pot. Intriguing traditions of song, dress, food, and spirituality are also portrayed, along with an explanation of the "rabbit proof fence" that helps them return home, the longest actual fence in the world. Traditional cultural knowledge and the strength of family ties are the champions in the end. The movie is enlivened at the finale by footage of the actual subjects of this true story, now elderly, with poignant updates on their history.
Age-related concerns for movie watchers involve primarily the emotional intensity of the story. A few notes of violence are briefly revealed. The kidnapping is graphically portrayed, the girls being scooped up by uniformed men, with women pounding and crying at the departing car. The grandmother is shown for a few seconds systematically beating her own bloody head with a rock in grief. Later, a police agent with a rifle and mother with a pointed stick have a tense but silent showdown of wills in the wooded area by a river, with no actual violence. More disturbingly, earlier in the movie at the home for children, a captured runaway is sent into a shack followed by a nun carrying scissors, being admonished "you knew what would happen," and we hear her crying out as she is beaten, cut or stabbed (it's not made clear which). All we see later is a partial image of her as Molly gazes through chinks in the hut at the girl's tear-stained and possibly bruised face. Although troubling it is more an allusion to violence than its open depiction, and necessary to understand the desire to get away. The "Protector" pays the home a visit and inspects the children's skin tones to determine which ones (those with lighter skins) will be sent to school, a particular humiliation to Molly. He is also seen lecturing a group of white Australians about the supposed moral superiority of whites, using slide images and some offensive race-based language such as "quadroons" to refer to persons of mixed-race, and refers repeatedly throughout the movie to "helping" the aborigines by removing their mixed-race children from them.
Great opportunities abound in this 90-minute, PG family flick to talk with children about important topics such as institutionalized racism in history and its abuses, about the diversity of cultures and cultural ideals, about the choice faced by the children in the home of whether to stay in an abusive situation and make the best of it, and about having the determination and know-how to act to save yourself when you really believe in something. There is yet another interesting choice when Gracie decides to leave the two other girls to try to meet her mother by train. The child protagonists all make strongly likeable heroes: sweet, canny, determined, and loyal to each other. Even though they didn't have it all planned out, they had the faith and courage, and the skill set needed to get started, and to respond to an evolving situation, making fools out of their well-meaning yet profoundly misguided pursuers, and achieving their objective in the end.
This is one of those movies that I wouldn't be too concerned about my two year old being in the room while it was playing. When the girls are taken away, it's intense, but not violent. He just picks them up and puts them in a car. There wasn't any real abuse in the camp. One girl is put in confinement for running away, but again no violence. As for the sexual reference, it was vague. I didn't realize it myself till I read it on this site's overall review.
What's the Story?
Set in 1931, RABBIT-PROOF FENCE shows the horrific consequences of an Australian policy that forcibly removed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families—a practice that continued until the 1970s. In this true story, Molly Craig (Everlyn Sampi), her sister Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), and their cousin Gracie (Laura Monaghan) are all "half-castes," what the government calls children of interracial couples. Their White fathers have long since left, and their homes are with their mothers in Jigalong, an area along a rabbit-proof fence that cuts through the middle of Australia. Officials, wanting to "improve" the upbringing of all "half-castes," force the children into an internment camp where they're to be trained as domestic workers and integrated into White society. Once there, Molly's longing for home is so strong that she makes an escape with Daisy and Gracie, following the fence to get back to Jigalong.
Powered by the strong performances of its lead actors, this moving drama demonstrates how courage and fear co-exist as three girls seek to reunite with their mothers. Rabbit-Proof Fence shows the damage caused by the inhumane policy that allowed the Australian government to forcefully take "half-caste" children from their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers, centering a story that inspires and horrifies equally.
While the tale is emotionally charged, it's appropriate for older children to learn about a crucial, if ugly, piece of history that may not be widely known. Viewers can root for the girls' safe return home—the film presents their escape as a kind of adventure—while reflecting on injustice and the importance of taking a stand for human rights.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about true stories and how they're depicted in film. What did you learn about history by watching Rabbit-Proof Fence? Do you believe everything happened in real life as it's shown? How would you fact-check what you've seen?
The girls are in constant danger while they journey back home. How did watching them go through this make you feel? Do emotional stories like this impact you differently depending on their format, such as in a novel, a movie, or a nonfiction book?
How do the girls show love and respect for their culture and traditions? How do they react when they're taken away from their mothers and forced to live elsewhere? How do they challenge the rules imposed on them?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
