“3000 Miles in Search of Mother” of Three Secluded Aboriginal Girls

Does anyone remember Cathy Freeman who was the last flame bearer at the opening ceremony of Sydney World Olympic Games 2000? She is a native Australian (Aborigine), and after winning the gold medal at 400m race, she ran around the race track with an aboriginal flag as well as the Australian flag. It was an unforgettable moment for the aborigines after 200 years of disease, massacre, poverty, and unfair treatments since the Europeans entered Australia. The Olympic star Freeman once said in an interview, “Because of the separation policy by the Australian government, I do not even know who my grandparents are.” What in the world has happened in Australia? The answer lies in the movie.

Going back home…Great Journey in search of mother.

Under the name of ‘Integration Policy’ from 1910 to 1970 in Australian, half-caste aboriginal children were taken away from their family.

In order to ‘civilize’ the half-white children, the government put them into a camp and forced English and Christianity upon them. The children, deprived of their own culture and language, were trained to be domestic workers, a lower class in white society.

This movie describes one side of the aboriginal history based on a true story of the children who escaped the governmental camp. In a remote village in Western Australia, Three girls: Molly, Daisy, and Grace are snatched from their mother’s arms-that’s how the movie gets started. That’s what they call a splitting pain. The aboriginal mother saw her girls taken away right in front of her eyes. She is hitting her head with a stone and crying her eyes out.

The kids arrive after a long journey in a cage just like animals. They are dying to see their mother. They make the journey back home, walking 2,400 km.

Family is the hope.

No map, no compass, and no food: the kids only depended on the yearning for their family and, “Rabbit-proof Fence.”

“Rabbit-proof Fence” was set up to stop the explosively growing numbers of rabbits. The fence continues through the barren waste land and deserts. As the fence continues all the way through the vast continent, the girls follow it home. The skinny legs make their small steps, one by one.

The girls in the movie have had no experience in acting and show the spirits of defiance, wisdom, and brevity without any pretense.

Coming Home and then…

Coming back home was not the end. Description at the end explains that Molly had two babies and was taken away to the camp again. Later, she finds out that she has lost her children again. It is more suggestive since everything in the movie is a true story.

Like breeding for the best seed, the white people checked the children’s skin under the cause of ‘Dilution of Half-blood’ and train them to become domestic workers. This movie shows the inhumane side of the whites but does not show any anger or hostility. With the background of the immense land on the screen, it plainly shows the epic journey of the children across it. The aboriginal life infringed by the white thus captures the heart of the viewers with a stronger power of truth. Open on October 17. General Audiences.

mskoh119@donga.com