Another triumph for Branagh

In a film which has caused the Australian government a great deal of embarrassment, Belfast-born Kenneth Branagh chalks up another success to underline the impressive revival in a career many thought was deep in the doldrums.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Director: Philip Noyce

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Evelyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil

Cert: PG.

Another triumph for Kenneth Branagh.

In a film which has caused the Australian government a great deal of embarrassment, Belfast-born Branagh chalks up another success to underline the impressive revival in a career many thought was deep in the doldrums.

The film, directed by Noyce with a feeling of anger, tells the true story of three Aboriginal girls who in the early l930s were forcibly removed from their families and sent by the authorities - in the shape of the patronisingly ghastly Chief Protector of the Aboriginal Population (Branagh) - over 1,000 miles away to be 'taught' white ways and to become domestic servants.

The treatment of the young girls was frightening and they escape, following the fence of the title which stretches through the outback.

The power of this excellent film lies in the emotion Noyce and his cast bring to it. It has a compellingly under-played strength to it simply because Noyce allows the story itself to dominate ... it is, in the end, more than enough.

Branagh is in fine form as the petty bureaucrat, made more awful through his total belief that he is doing the right thing ... and there are remarkable contributions from Sampi, Sansbury and Monaghan, all the more so since they have never had any acting experience before.

This, then, is a gem of a film.

Star Rating: 5/5