Color, PG (violence), 93 min, PPV 59 days, VHS rental, DVD$29.99
DVD: director/actors' commentary, featurette
Street: April 15, Prebook: now
First Run: L, Nov. 2002, $5.5 mil.
Cast: Kenneth Branagh (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan,
David Gulpilil (Until the End of the World)
Director: Phillip Noyce
MIRAMAX/BUENA VISTA
Story Line: In 1931 Australia, three aboriginal girls are taken from their mother's custody under the Aborigines Act, a law that hypocritically preserves the "racial purity" of indigenous peoples by taking half-caste children from their parents. After being interned at a native settlement, the girls make a daring escape, evading trackers as they journey through the Australian countryside.
Bottom Line: In its best moments, this fact-based, stunningly photographed Australian feature is a harrowing, wrenching account of the ways in which laws imposed by colonial government can wreak havoc on the lives of an indigenous people. At its most mundane, it has the feel of a '50s live action Disney movie about heroic kids trying to find their way back home. The issues are real, but the heroes and villains are so thoroughly black-and-white in director Noyce's vision that viewers will be rooting for the little girls and hissing Branagh's pompous "Chief Protector of Aborigines" character within the first 15 minutes. To his credit, Branagh plays the role not like a moustache-twirling Simon Legree, but as a single-minded bureaucrat prone to imperious phrases such as, "In spite of himself, the native must be helped." The Aboriginal cast members do the best work, though, quietly conveying their characters' tenacity as well as their resistance to the soul-devouring assimilation mandated by the Australian government. Rabbit-Proof Fences critical reputation proceeds it, so be prepared for a solid initial run and hopefully word-of-mouth will take over the rest. --Ed Grant