Physical journeys involve different types of obstacles and movement to new places. They provide opportunity for us as travelers to extend ourselves physically, intellectually and emotionally as we respond to challenges. The two texts I have studied, the feature film, "Rabbit Proof Fence" directed by Phillip Noyce and Journey's over Land and Sea from the stimulus booklet both suggest this idea of physical journey and although the destination can be the main motivation for the journey, the process of it actually increases our self knowledge and understanding of the world around us.
Rabbit Proof Fence, follows the journey of Molly, Daisy and Gracie as they escape captivity and embark on a 1500 mile journey home through the Australian outback. .
In the film, the composer gives us the idea that journey is toilsome, tedious and painful. This can be conveyed in the effective medium of film through the cinematography. Many scenes commence without sound and let the stillness affectively depict the seemingly impossible feat at hand. The use of the sounds of Aboriginal music, suggests the winds blowing across the desolate wastelands and the heartache of the oppressed. The majority of the film is shot from Molly's subjective point of view, with heavy stylizations attempting to involve the audience in her isolation: slow-motion camerawork, extreme wide-angle shots, and characters staring right into the barrel of the lens serve to present a universe as seen from Molly's eyes. The problem with Rabbit Proof Fence is, of course, one of a double audience; a relatively informed domestic audience and a relatively uninformed international audience. The solution is to speak in a universalizing language of emotions, with wrenching emotional moments such as the scene where the girls are dragged from their wailing mother's arms.
During their nine week journey, the girls are not only extended physically, through the enormous distance they walked, exposure, and hunger, but emotionally and intellectually also.
