Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

Western Australia, 1931. Government policy includes taking half-caste children from their Aboriginal mothers and sending them a thousand miles away to what amounts to indentured servitude, "to save them from themselves." Molly, Daisy, and Grace (two sisters and a cousin who are 14, 10, and 8) arrive at Moore River Native Settlement and promptly escape, under Molly's lead. For days they walk north, following a fence that keeps rabbits from settlements, eluding a native tracker and the regional constabulary. Their pursuers take orders from the government's "chief protector of Aborigines," A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), blinded by Anglo-Christian certainty, evolutionary world view and conventional wisdom. Can the girls survive? Can hilarity ensue?

Trivia: Doris Pilkington, author of the book "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence", is the daughter of Molly (played by Everlyn Sampi in the film). The world premiere of this film was held in an outdoor screening at Jigalong, the outback community where the girls were taken from, and where they still live. Everlyn Sampi (Molly Craig) ran away twice during filming. In one instance, she was found in a phone booth, trying to buy tickets back to Broome. The last scene in the movie, which shows the real-life Molly walking with a walking stick, was shot first. According to Phillip Noyce, during an interview after a screening, Molly's age and health made it so that it would be best if that scene was shot first.

The next stop on my diversity tour is Rabbit-Proof Fence. A tale of three aboriginal "half-caste" girls and their 1500 mile trip across the western Australian outback to get home after being taken away from their mother ostensibly to keep the aboriginal race pure, to protect them from themselves. While the role of Protector of the Aborigines was nominally to protect Aborigines, particularly in remote areas, it has been suggested that the role included social control up to the point of controlling whom individuals were able to marry and where they lived. The original Rabbit-Proof Fence 1 ran 1,139 mile from the southern coast to the northern coast of Western Australia. What makes this cool is that it is based on a true story about three girls that did walk 1,500 miles (most along the fence) to return to their family (although there is a debate about some of the portrayals of the settlement and actions of the government).