Rabbit-Proof Fence
Miramax Films | Release Date: November 29, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The result is a film that outrages and fills the viewer with poetry that's at once epic and intimate, scandalizing and life-affirming -- a real work of art.
100
TimeRichard Corliss
This is a chase movie (Simon Legree after three Little Evas) across parched outback terrain, captured with rapturous authenticity by cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
I love Rabbit-Proof Fence as drama, as protest, as moviemaking and as poetry. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
A breathtaking story of defiance and triumph that has to be considered one of the year's most sublime films. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Searing dramatization of a story of remarkable courage, stamina and spirit. Read full review
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Noyce uses his Hollywood craft to unfold this primal, powerful story, he has an epic feel for the harshly beautiful Australian landscape and he gets wonderfully natural performances from the three girls. His bold, lyrical images stay in your head, like an unaccountably beautiful nightmare.
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A movie of minimalist moments (Molly's tiniest gestures speak volumes) and lovely, almost holy tableaux.
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The final scene of the film contains an appearance and a revelation of astonishing emotional power; not since the last shots of "Schindler's List" have I been so overcome with the realization that real people, in recent historical times, had to undergo such inhumanity. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
At an economical 94 minutes, Rabbit-Proof Fence trims all the fat and tells its heartfelt and stirring story. This is one of 2002's most memorable imports. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The rabbits, foolishly introduced to a land that couldn't support them as they bred and dispersed, are symbols of the English: ravenous, unheeding, ineradicable and a constant threat to the native way of life. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Noyce's movie is a testament to endurance -- the camera caresses the landscape -- instilling us with a respect and reverence for it, its harsh ways and the attachment to it that Australia's indigenous people hold. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Noyce honors the story best by standing back (and getting Kenneth Branagh, as a supercilious official, to stand back, too): Noyce lets the landscape and the untrained young actresses own the screen, particularly the naturally magnetic Everlyn Sampi. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Thrilling, heart-wrenching tale of the real-life incredible journey. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Noyce wants us to feel the joy of the homecoming, but he's honest enough to show, in a coda that tells what happened to the girls after their break for home, how Rabbit Proof Fence finally must be more a tale of courage than of victory. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Although the movie, adapted from a book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, pushes emotional buttons and simplifies its true story to give it the clean narrative sweep of an extended folk ballad, it never goes dramatically overboard. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Stratton
It succeeds emotionally in the cause of what seems to be its primary aim, to advance an attitudinal change in Australians not normally sympathetic to the aboriginal cause. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The story is so black-and-white that one feels like hissing the villain (Kenneth Branagh) and cheering the heroines at every stage, but it's so amazing that the simplicity of the telling seems warranted. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
An old-fashioned weepie tucked inside a fiercely indicting political thriller. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Noyce has treated this story almost like a page of holy writ. If he has erred, it is in the very awe of his approach. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Where Noyce could easily have given Branagh a mustache and tilted the film toward old-fashioned melodrama, he leans on tactics that are less obvious and more effective. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Based on a memoir by a grown daughter of the eldest girl and rarely digressing from the journey itself, the movie is a dusty, calloused, primal Odyssey, as forceful and single-minded as a bullet train. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Its adult themes of familial separation and societal betrayal are head and shoulders above much of the director’s previous popcorn work -– more hurt, more heart, more unassailable hope. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Noyce paces this amazing story well, and even if his young actors don't seem to have physically suffered as much as they would during such a long journey, he makes extremely good use of the bleak Outback scenery. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Here, Noyce lets his camera, the geography and the youngsters tell this exceptionally powerful story. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
As ambitious as this may be, however, the movie's objectives tax its energy even as the girls' plight tears at your heart. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Characters are so well-drawn, so human - that even in the harsh light of history - it remains difficult to understand how Australia allowed such inhumanity to become institutional, mechanized and accepted. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
The story itself is absolutely amazing, and the sense of outrage it evokes is universal, but director Noyce faces a difficult task in that once the story is set in motion there is very little action, other than walking shots of the girls, and almost no dialogue. Read full review
70
Film ThreatClint Morris
The performances of young Sampi, Monaghan and Sansbury are amazing. They’re immersing and compelling. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Not until the final shot does Noyce rise up to the potential of the history: There's a sudden shiver of recognition, that, my God, these people really lived this. Read full review
50
Film ThreatPhil Hall
Achieves the impossible by taking one of the most compelling and harrowing stories imaginable and channeling it into one of the most ordinary movies of the year. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Kenneth Branagh overplays his portrayal of Neville, but most of the other characters are skillfully acted by a solid cast, including the great Aborigine actor David Gulpilil as the tracker. In all, this is a watchable movie that's not quite the memorable experience it might have been. Read full review
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