Phillip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) takes place in 1931 and follows three girls who live in Australia near the so-called rabbit-proof fence. The town is called Jigalong and the girls are half-Aboriginal; they initially follow a traditional path and are trained to become domestic help staff. However, they rebuke tradition and go on an interesting journey through the Australian Outback.
Just like the book it's based on (called Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence -- written by Doris Pilkington Garimara), Rabbit-Proof Fence received outstanding reviews upon its release. On movie site IMDb, the film has a solid (albeit unspectacular) rating of 7.5 out of 10 stars. On movie review site Rotten Tomatoes.com, it has an critics score of 87% and a very similar audience score of 86%. Summing up the critics opinion of the film, the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: "Visually beautiful and well-acted, Rabbit-Proof Fence tells a compelling true-life story." Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, writing "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." It was also nominated for a Golden Globe: Best Original Score for Peter Gabriel. Although undeniably well-made and very important, Rabbit-Proof Fence his not widely known.
The film was reasonably financial successful. It was made for $6 million and made back $16.2 at the box office. Ultimately, while the film was incredibly well-received and reasonably financially successful, the film is not widely known.
