Oranges and Sunshine (2010)

Wonderful Movie

Thanks for the memories!

Absolutely Fantastic

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

In the years after World War Two, the British government took away children from single mothers considered unsuited for parenthood, told them they were orphans, and sent them to Australia, where they were raised as virtual slave labour by the Catholic church. This shocking but true story is revealed in Jim Loach's workmanlike film 'Oranges and Sunshine', which follows the British social worker who discovered and revealed their plight. The film is interesting because of the awfulness of the tale it reveals; but the story of its protagonist is not so interesting in itself, and indeed, the drama itself makes the point that her story is less interesting than those of the people she helped which, by contrast, are revealed only through retrospection. It's still worth watching as a reminder of the terrible things that are sometimes done supposedly in a good cause.

This film was written by Rona Munro a noted playwright who has also worked in film, television, radio and various genres including science fiction as she wrote that last ever story for the original run of Doctor Who. The film is based on the the book 'Empty Cradles' by social worker Margaret Humphreys that highlights her real life tale of the supposedly orphaned children sent to Australia and their fight to discover or be reunited with their real parents.The film is directed by Jim Loach, son of radical film maker Ken Loach and together they make a good pair to bring a tale of social injustice and fighting against the establishment to the screen.What makes the film heart wrenching that this migration took place up until the 1970s and some of the kids who ended up in Australia lived a life of systematic abuse and/or indentured labour until they became old enough. Many were suffering from mental scars as well as some physical ones.Although the film is shot in UK and Australia it is a low budget film, it might be slow going for some but the focus is on the actors to bring the tale alive. In that case Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham do a excellent job.It is a film that requires investment of your time and it is not a film that takes the easy way to cynically, manipulate your emotions that a lot of Hollywood films would do. It is a slow burner but the scenes near the end at Bindoon when the full horrors of what the kids have to face is revealed is gut wrenching.

Jim Loach, son of the revered Ken, traverses into the underbelly of British history with a subdued biopic of Margaret Humphreys (a tremendous as usual Emily Watson) and the insufficiently widespread story of the Home Children scheme, which transported up to 150 000 children from impoverished British families to orphanages across the globe. In 1987 social worker Humphreys specifically uncovered the involuntary child migration to the Australian colony, starting off in the mid-1900 century, but only ending in 1970. A state secret to which neither the Australian nor the British government wanted to confess to, brought many so-called orphans (promised the titular 'oranges and sunshine') into forced child labour, where they were subject to misuse, rape or even brought into contact with paedophile circuits. Of these the infamous Bindoon orphanage led by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, but built with the blood, sweat and tears of thousands of children, forced to mix cement in the scorching sun with their bare hands or carry stones the size of their upper body. These were the 'lost children of the Empire'.Jim Loach ventures down familiar family paths, instead of attempting to imprint his own signature. With this dimly lit feature he invokes a similarly grayish bleak mundanity, where even people wear drab clothing to underline the sense of dreary mistidings. Moments of light invariably and expectedly inhabit the more optimistic or revelatory moments, a somewhat expected filmmaker standard. Lacking a sense of individual style, borrowing from his great directorial father figure, isn't necessarily a problem. However Ken Loach usually ventures into projects with much less structure, which he can mold to his own liking, whereas the tragic historical backdrop of the Home Children scheme allows little leg-room and signalised a significant overreach on the part of the young director.With an overly TV-movie feel and an antiquated story delivery, Loach fails to instill a growing emotional punch, instead leaving large parts of the shocking reality with an underwhelming pull. That isn't to say that certain moments didn't hit with a vengeance, such as stories of abused Bindoon boys juxtaposed to Margaret struggling to live a normal family life. However for the most part the biopic struggles for dramatic coherence, overexposing certain aspects, while struggling to highlight others (especially regarding the hostile or disinterested reactions of government officials). With no real flow, "Oranges and Sunshine" provide one significant surprise: that such a striking, rage-inducing story brings about such a muted reaction in viewers, unlike the more familial, griping portrayal of the related subject matter of the Aboriginal Stolen Generation presented in "Rabbit Proof Fence". Unfortunately unearthing the ugly truth should really cause a more aggressive shock-induced response...

I confess to stumbling in a daze from the theatre after experiencing Ms. Emily Watson's performance in this fine film. Few actors can touch the very soul of viewers and rip their hearts from their chests as she once again profoundly changes life views with stunning performance after stunning performance. In this film, it borders on almost too much to bear. Ms. Watson puts so much of her own being into this role, her own humanity and essence, that it is impossible to be less than anything but mesmerized by her. This is an actor in command of all she touches, a monarch of the stage and screen who rules over all she surveys. Her career is marked by unusual choices in roles, roles that no other actor would dare approach. This is the case here as well. Ms. Watson literally sets the screen afire with a performance of such power that you will never be the same again after experiencing it. This is great acting defined. What is truly amazing is that for Ms. Emily Watson, it is par for the course. She continues to be the most talented, gifted actor of her generation as well as of all others.