Based on Doris Pilkington's novel, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, this odyssey about three young aboriginal girls who escape a governmental internment camp and trek across the outback to return home, is touching, if a little near-sighted. Bringing to the fore the shocking government policy that Australia had in place from the 1930s through the 1970s, whereby "half-caste" children (of mixed aboriginal and white descent) were removed from their families to be trained as domestic servants, Phillip Noyce's film flatly addresses the racism that the country was built upon. Although the trio of youngsters turn in top-notch performances, along with Kenneth Branagh, who is wonderful as the cold, level-headededly brutal politician, A.O. Neville, this strong drama never manages to bring its timely story into the present day. Unable to relate its tale of entrenched racism to our current state of affairs, the film makes the mistake of portraying this historical atrocity as just that: a thing of the past.