History Film / RabbitProofFence

InspiredBy a true story, and based on the book written by the real Molly's daughter. Creator/KennethBranagh plays Mr. Neville.

* ILied: A man tells Gracie that her mother is in Wiluna. Gracie believes him. [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding It's a trap and she's taken back.]] Riggs promises the man a shilling for his assistance. In Real life, Gracie's mother did actually move to Wiluna after her daughter was taken, but it was left ambiguous whether this was the case in the movie]].

* {{Determinator}}: Can you imagine what it would take to be 13-ish and walk 1,500 miles through the Australian Outback?

* ILied: A man tells Gracie that her mother is in Miluna. Gracie believes him. [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding It's a trap and she's taken back.]] Riggs promises the man a shilling for his assistance]].

* BoomerangBigot: The tough Aboriginal guard at the Moore River seems to genuinely despise his own culture.

* TeamMom: Molly, who has to do all the decisions for the other girls and reluctantly admits to carrying Gracie around when she can no longer walk.

InspiredBy a true story, and based on the book written by the real Molly's daughter.

Our protagonists are three "half-caste" Aborigine girls, 14-year-old Molly, her 8-year-old sister Daisy, and their cousin, 10-year-old Gracie. The three are taken from their mothers and put in one of the British/Australian government centers for aborigine children. It is on the opposite coast of the country from their home. Molly leads the other girls in an escape and they try to make their way home, following the "rabbit-proof" fence that runs all the way across Australia to protect the cattle grazing lands from the rabbits. The journey is hundreds of miles long, and there are skilled trackers following them.

In early 20th century Australia, there was a common assumption that the Australian Aborigine population was dying out, and that the best thing that could be done for mixed children of one white parent was to round them up and make them wards of the state (it was also assumed that living among "cultured" white people as servants and laborers would be far better than living with one's family in a native village), the Australian government has rounded up mixed-race children of Australian Aborigines. They will become wards of the state, with the intention that these half-white children will eventually marry white Australians, and their descendants will lose all race of their Aboriginal heritage within a few generations.

The Australian government has rounded up children of Australian Aborigines. They will take care of them as if they were orphans, and as a bonus, they intend to wipe out the Australian Aborigine culture in the process. If no one passes it down, it'll go away.

->''We’re here to help. Duty, service, responsibility. Those are our watchwords.''
-->--'''Mr. Neville''', the head of the Aboriginal internment program in Western Australia.

* OpeningNarration: One by the real-life Molly no less, now in her old age.

* NobodyPoops: Averted, as we are shown a bucket that is used in place of the toilet at the governmental facility, and even see it being poured out.

* PunchClockVillain: Constable Riggs is sent to retrieve the children along with Moodoo. He pursues the girls because it's his job and doesn't care for the internment programs of the politics of his superiors. After traveling in the desert to little success he runs off after being spooked by the girl's mother, noting he isn't paid enough for this.
* ScaryBlackMan: Played straight with the Aboriginal guard at the internment center, who wakes the children by hammering at the walls with a crowbar. Subverted with Moodoo, a tough-looking tracker, who nevertheless only works for Neville because his daughter is also held at the Moore River.

* OpeningNarration – One by the real-life Molly no less, now in her old age.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance – Just about everything Mr. Neville says when he justifies his actions. Check out the [[Quotes/RabbitProofFence quotes page for more.]]

* YouAreNotAlone – The girls receive help at several points in the story. Usually it’s food, but at one point they get pointed towards the correct branch of the fence and at another point this help allows them to evade a trap set down the fence.

''We’re here to help. Duty, service, responsibility. Those are our watchwords.''
--> ''' Mr. Neville, the head of the Aboriginal internment program in Western Australia.'''

* ILied: A man tells Gracie that her mother is in Miluna. Gracie believes him. [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding Things don't end well for her]].]]
** This could have been unintentionally, as it was a rumor Mr. Neville spread. The man could have believed it was true...

* MoneyDearBoy: The white driver who is sent to assist Moodoo in the girls’ capture couldn’t care less about them and the good internment is supposed to do them. He eventually leaves the trap, saying: let’s go, they aren’t paying us enough for this.

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The Australian government has rounded up children of Australian aborigines. They will take care of them as if they were orphans, and as a bonus, they intend to wipe out the Australian aborigine culture in the process. If no one passes it down, it'll go away.

* BittersweetEnding

* DeliberateValuesDissonance

* DisappearedDad: The children's fathers are mentioned but is nowhere to be found in this film.

* MamaBear: Molly and Daisy's mother [[spoiler:scares Riggs off at the end by simply walking towards him with a spear.]]
* OpeningNarration
* PromotionToParent: Happens to Molly
* TeamMom: Molly

* TraumaticHaircut: Happens to Olive after she's brought back to Moor River.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Molly in spades.
* YouAreNotAlone
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Moodoo technically could, but he won't leave his daughter.
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* {{Wise beyond their years}}: Molly in spades.