Much as in other parts of the globe where the white European settler arrived to colonize and forcefully impose his Judeo-Christian beliefs on the natives, convinced that he was doing so for their own good, such as in North America and Africa, so too, was the case in Australia. The fact that these native populations managed to exist and thrive in harsh conditions for close to 60,000 years without the Europeans' help, thank you very much, seemed largely irrelevant.

In fact, the native population, be it in North, Central or South America, Africa and Australia suffered greatly from the settlers' imported diseases, highly racist attitudes and pre-conditioned beliefs that their way was the only godly way to live. From an estimated population of 300,000 when Capt. James Cook first landed in Botany Bay in 1778, the Aborigines dwindled down to about 60,000. Within two years, smallpox killed about half the population around Sydney.

At first the British did not wish to harm the Aborigines. Arthur Phillip, the first governor of Australia, started the penal settlement with the intentions of "reconciling the Aboriginals to live amongst us, and to teach them the advantages they will reap from cultivating the land." But the settlers assumed that their European and Christian ways were simply superior.

"Rabbit-Proof Fence" tells the true story of three Aboriginal girls who are forcibly taken from their families in Western Australia in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants as part of an official Australian government strategy to control the proliferation as well as the movement of non whites.

Mirroring South Africa's apartheid system, Australia's guiding principle regarding the Aborigines determined if the autochthonous people could travel around the country to visit close relatives, if they could marry, or even if and when they were allowed to purchase new shoes. They, however, went a step further in trying to water down the Aborigine bloodline by marrying lighter-skinned natives to whites, in the hope of "whitening" the race over the course of three or four generations. This stringent policy deciding the fate of Australia's aboriginal population was eradicated only in 1970.

The story of Molly, Daisy and Gracie is just one of thousands of similar tragic events in the lives of the Aborigines, or Koori, as they prefer to be called. The film, based on a book written by Doris Pilkington, the daughter of one of the three girls, follows their daring escape from a camp where aboriginal girls are brought, taught English "and proper manners," forced to forget their mother tongues, as well as their mothers.

Braving Australia's inhospitable climate and terrain, the three girls embark on an epic 1,500-mile trek that takes them through the continent's notoriously rugged Outback as they gradually make their way -- on foot and with no supplies -- back to their home village. They use the "Rabbit-Proof Fence," a wire mesh fence that bisects the Australian continent, to navigate their way home, while the authorities, "determined not to be made fools of," remain in hot pursuit.

Director Phillip Noyce ("Clear and Present Danger" and "Patriot Games) does a wonderful job portraying this poignant story and directing the three young girls, Everlyn Sampi (Molly), Tianna Sansbury (Daisy), and Laura Monaghan (Gracie). Kenneth Branagh ("Hamlet" and "Wild Wild West") is outstanding in the role of the cool, reserved and almost-Dr. Mengele-like Australian administrator of aboriginal rights, Mr. Neville, whom the girls appropriately call "Mr. Devil." He is the one who decides which of the girls are "acceptable," after a quick inspection of their bodies. And David Gulpilil, who played the role of "Crocodile Dundee's" Aborigine friend in the film of the same name, is great at Moodoo, the tracker whom the girls manage to outsmart and remain a step ahead (or behind) of.

Peter Gabriel's sound track, using Western and aboriginal music, adds much flavor to the film. Rated PG, for the movie's distressing scenes when the three girls are forcibly removed from their mother, may well upset younger audiences. Still, Noyce has artfully managed to relate a powerful story without making it seem as an anti-European, anti-white propaganda crusade. It is simply part of our history as human beings with which we have to live, and hopefully to learn from.

The film comes out in the Unites States in December.

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(Comments may be sent to claude@upi.com)