rabbit proof fence

turning over a slightly new leaf, i'm trying to watch more documentaries and foreign films, rather than sticking to hollywood propaganda. don't get me wrong, i like some of that hollywood propaganda, but it's just not... well, not...real. so we watched rabbit proof fence the other night, which we've been meaning to watch for quite some time now. what a great movie. it is highly recommended.

Set in rural australia it is the story of molly craig, daisy kadibill and gracie fields, three little girls who escape from a "skills school" for half castes and enter into a 1200 mile journey across the australian outback, avoiding trackers, persevering deadly heat and withstanding hunger. they did this walk to escape. 1200 miles. (during the credits, you find out that molly actually did this walk twice as she was sent back to the prison camp later in life)

i doubt any person could sit through this movie without the stir of emotion running deep through one's veins. without any big name actors/actresses and with kids who play their roles with amazing poise and character, this movie draws all the attention to the story. it's not an in your face political message (ala fahrenheit 9/11), rather a beautiful, well done film that speaks for itself. nice.

for me, the movie draws attention to yet another atrocity, another point in history of which i'm ashamed, partly because of my race, and partly at being human. the half caste system in australia was designed to literally breed out the indigenous australian race. thus when, a child was born to a white man and an aborigine woman or vice versa, they were termed half caste. research showed that if the half caste "bred" with white man for three more generations, then the aborigine was basically gone. the system was set in place to breed a whole race out of existence. yikes.

columbus. cortés. pizarro. puritan. hitler. stalin. white south africa. neville. mugabe. the list goes on and on and on and on and on and on... but why. at what point did one man start thinking of another man as inferior, as second class, as inhuman - based on social class, race, economic situation, color of skin...? i suppose it goes way back. maybe it was adam.

one part i despise is the way we learn about it in schools, in history classes, in text books and on t.v. we are told of great explorers and wonderful sailors, of military leaders and one-of-a-kind presidents. i don't think i heard the term genocide even one time during my education experience. not once.

in his book, a people's history of the united states, howard zinn explains it this way: "The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks) -- the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress -- is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders."

i wonder if this is how australians learn about the settling of australia...? what a shame.