Set in mid 1950s Australia, with the fear of communism in the air and the country's farmlands overrun by a plague of rabbits, the film depicts a long hot summer seen through the eyes and over-active imagination of nine year old Celia. Shaken by the death of her beloved Grandmother, Celia finds herself adrift between the cruel games and rituals of childhood and the incomprehensible world of grown-ups. With monstrous creatures stalking her dreams by night, those imagined terrors blur by day with the banal brutality of the adult world and lead to tragic and shocking consequences. Ann Turner's refreshingly unsentimental debut feature is a dark fable of childhood's end. An enthralling film to rank alongside Lord of the Flies, The 400 Blows and Stand By Me.
Labeling this "Yes" as I can't find anything saying otherwise. There's no "no animals were harmed" sentence (or similar) during the credit scenes or any other official information. Surely, there's a lot of rabbits being poorly held and managed and some of the scenes look too realistic so I can't say they're special effects; the main rabbit is severely harmed and then is found dead.
At 01:01:49 - a pet rabbit is held near an outside fire and is eventually branded. The scene is quite disturbing. The rabbit is large, especially when held by the scruff by a child and it's struggling against being held by the scruff over a fire by a kid.
At 01:23:11, there's a very brief direct view of 2 drowned rabbits. One of them is then seen being carried by a child. It is a real rabbit dead soaking wet so you see the body underneath.
Many rabbits are shown culled and experimented on in stock footage, and a pet is shown being branded before being drowned off screen and later shown dead
Worth noting in addition to the other issues mentioned here is stock footage of many dead and mistreated rabbits. This movie was inspired by a real "rabbit muster in the 1950" (Wikipedia) so if you are particularly sensitive to rabbits being harmed, probably skip this one.
Also when someone is shot there is a red area on the shirt and a puddle of blood. And the scene with the rabbit being branded rates as gory to me, although it’s not lingered upon and doesn’t appear to be a deep burn.