Oranges and Sunshine

source: Oranges and Sunshine

A technically well made film of a deeply shameful episode in the history of UK government, social workers and charities, most of whom have yet to learn the necessity of transparency or accountability. But the central character of Margaret is portrayed as a self satisfied, self righteous prig. Was she really like this? When accused by a female receptionist of lying, she states categorically "I do not tell lies, ever." Really? She is the only human being in history to achieve this feat. It was exactly that arrogant, delusional attitude which helped lead to the problem this film shows, and it's still appallingly common amongst the so-called professionals in the social work and policing fields. (A recent example in the UK was the widespread ignoring of teenage girls who got caught up in sex rings.) Margaret never displays inappropriate feelings and acts entirely in accordance with 21st century mores - not those of the 1980s. Ultimately, this is a Disneyfied version of what must have been a much more problematic and complex story. It feels nothing like reality. For example: the meeting at the Christian Brothers' house is presented with The Great Saint Margaret sitting on high in judgement over the inferior beings who are just trying to eat a simple meal. We are not told which, if any, of those men committed any of the heinous crimes against children many years previously. This is dreadful film making and very dishonest. I cannot believe that this woman could have been so self-denying - it would have made her unbearable to live with.

I felt that this dramatisation depicted Nottingham correctly as I was born there. It deals with a tragic British Government experiment aptly not over zealously replaying memories but instead reflecting the pain that those are still suffering. It shows for me the Empirical British using the colonies as some test zone at the expense of thousands of children who have subsequently suffered decades of loss of identity and childhood. It is estimated that it cost 5GBP per day to institutionalise children in UK in the 50's it fails to even consider the cost to these individuals and the generations that follows in their blood lines that both Britain and Australia now have as citizens. Britain failed to tackle its inherent class system and still does, instead using Australia as a testing ground first to establish the Country and then to use the bigoted and racist ideals of religious extremist's to continue its racist empirical hold over the colony until the 70's. Thank you to Margaret Humphrey's and her Husband and family and to Nottinghamshire City Council, to bring this nightmare for those that had to experience to the fore and thank goodness that we are encouraged to remember these atrocities, "Lest we forget".

Last week, I went to the British Screen Festival in Nîmes, to see "Oranges & Sunshine", Jim Loach's first movie. The lack of experience couldn't be any clearer. In spite of the good subject, the movie is really boring and I had a nod off at the end. The actor's game has no relevance and I absolutely didn't feel any emotions. Usually, Emily Watson is a good actress but here she's just BORING ! And Hugo Weaving, who is always crying, didn't impress me at all ! I only wanted to give him a Kleenex and a shaver... This movie looks like a soap, especially during the stupid love scene between Margaret and her husband when she gets back to England. The only positive point is that there are beautiful Australian landscapes and that the scene where a stranger tries to enter Margaret's house by night is quite funny. But except that moment, everything is so dumb. One of the most boring film I've ever seen. I advise everyone not to lose their time watching it. I hope Ken Loach will teach his son to direct a movie...

I can only give this a 10/10 due to the fact that i grew up with many of the fairbrigians and the Bindoon and Clontarf boys. I am a 62 year old and still socialise with some of these people. Fairbridge in Western Australia is situated just south of Perth and very close to Pinjarra. Every year they hold a Fairbridge festival that lasts for a whole weekend and hosts lots of activities including top groups and singers. I myself was once committed to a boys institution and met many of these kids that had ran away from Bindoon and other institutions that were abusive to them. Kingsley Fairbridge was not the abusive type and most Fairbrigians do not tell the same story as the Christian brothers torture. This movie portrays the story of Margaret Humphrey and her quest to find these -(now grown ups) to find their real parents. Only a very small portion found relatives. The goof here says that Margaret couldn't have moved to a stone house in Perth. Fremantle was the first landing and the first settlers along with convicts dug out a huge section of one of the hills which was limestone. Limestone was used for the building of almost -ALL the first buildings including the Fremantle prison. Many more houses and buildings in both Fremantle and Perth still stand today. I loved the movie and i believe it is very much close to the truth. A must to see.

Oranges and Sunshine – CATCH IT (B+) The film tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the scandal of "home children", a scheme of forcibly relocating poor children from the UK to Australia and Canada. Margaret reunites estranged families and brings worldwide attention to the cause. Deported children were promised oranges and sunshine but they got hard labor and life of misery and sexual abuse in institutions such as Keaney College in Bindoon, Western Australia. (Wiki) Oranges and Sunshine is a sensitive subject matter which defiantly put Britain in Shame when Margaret Humphreys broke out the story in 80s. Emily Watson's portrayal of Margaret Humphreys' trouble to help the transported kids all the way to Australia is heart wrenching. The emotional turmoil she goes to work for them while managing her family is something really inspiring. Emily Watson is a great actress and no doubt she brings her emotional range to the real life role model. In supporting cast Hugo Weaving & David Wenhem did a fine job. Overall, it's a sensitive movie about a sensitive issue. Keep in mind its tear jerker, so keep a box of tissue.

This is a story of the organised deportation to Australia of over 120,000 British children since the late 1890s until the 1960s. It is a must-see for people of our generation, if only to gain some insight into what some of our forebears had to endure. Emily Watson - if she weren't such an accomplished actress - would make a fine counsellor/social worker. She shines in the lead role and the scene where she wakes up with breathing difficulties is very moving - she literally has the weight of all the people on that deported list on her compassionate heart. Hugo Weaving is deeply moving as the man who all his life wanted only to see his mother again. David Wenham's Len provides the only relief as the boy-made-good who finds his mum and begins a relationship with her. Watch it and consider how lucky you are.

Have just seen this film shortly after its premiere in Nottingham, where the English sequences are mostly set, and am surprised to find so few people on IMDb prepared to say anything about it! Give 'em a few weeks ... "Oranges and Sunshine" works by judicious underplaying where it counts - there is a lot of dramatic tension in what is effectively a documentary, and although we may know the overall historical background after Kevin Rudd's 2008 apology for the deportations, we aren't all familiar with the more personal and "smaller scale" story of Margaret Humphreys; there are a few moments where she is almost placed in the "woman in distress" role, although Jim Loach (son of Ken) and his collaborators don't allow the film to lapse; they emphasise that Mrs Humphreys is one to put her work before anything else, and much is made of the tension between the reuniting of other families and the continual physical split in her own family. David Wenham gives a performance (to my mind) better than the nominal star Emily Watson - he is at once a "typical Australian male", a damaged victim of abuse, and a collaborator who doesn't feel the need to upstage Margaret while constantly offering assistance; the scene as they look back at the "childrens home" after they have gone in and helped themselves to a cup of tea is powerful stuff. Emily Watson acts well and is perhaps let down a bit by the script, which gives her lots of social-worker lines to say when she is in emotional states that make them seem artificial and elaborate. Hardly any of the story is a flashback to the 1940s and 1950s when most of the deportations happened - it's solidly based around 1986 Nottingham, and one slight flaw is that the constant back-and-forth England-Australia air travel by Margaret and her "clients" threatens to downplay the huge disorientating effect of the original seaborne voyage to the other side of the world; clever cutting and overlaps of sound add to this lessening of difference. How does Loach jr compare with Ken? You can't judge one film against a couple of dozen, and Ken didn't direct a lot of actual documentaries, or "true stories" so it's difficult - certainly not "Looking for Eric" but IMHO of similar merit.

It is always a jolt when a bit of buried history surfaces and makes us realize that the world is not all that sane as we would like to believe: the Chaos Factor raises its ugly head as in this screen adaptation by Rona Munro of Margaret Humphreys' true story book 'Empty Cradles'. This is a very powerful film, all the more so because of the quality of acting and direction by Jim Loach who never lets the film run out of control despite the unveiling tragedy. The story is set in the 1980s where Nottingham, social worker Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson) is a social worker who encounters a middle aged woman who has traveled form Australia to find her birth parents. Margaret at first doesn't want to increase her workload with a wild tale of children having been deported form England by ship to be placed in orphanage work camps in Australia, but with the aid of her supportive husband Merv (Richard Dillane) she begins to investigate the uncovered secret, ultimately traveling to Australia where she meets the 'unwanted children' as adults each longing to return to the UK to meet their families. The children when deported were as young as four to thirteen years old and had been told their parents either were dead or didn't want them and the representatives from the government promised them a safe home with 'oranges and sunshine' in Australia. There are several 'victims' as played by Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Russell Dykstra and others who help personalize the unspoken crime until Margaret progresses to the point where she can hold the British government accountable for child migration schemes and reunite the children involved -- now adults living mostly in Australia -- with their parents in Britain. Though the deportations occurred from the 1940's through the 1970's it was only after Margaret Humphrey's 1994 book and then much later after when February 2010 Great Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown finally issued a full apology to those deported children and their families. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent but it is the glowing performance by Emily Watson that makes this revelation of a film remain in the mind long after the credits explain how the solution played out in reality. This is a tough film but an important one and deserves a much larger audience than it has found. Grady Harp

I saw this truly extraordinary film last night ... and know now that it will be with me for a long time to come. The story is totally compelling and the acting is superb! Emily Watson is always a wonder to watch and she does some of her finest work here -- perhaps her best performance ever. The supporting players are, without exception, highly gifted and each finds his or her character to the point where you feel, at times, that you are watching a documentary, so fine are their portrayals. Based on the true experiences of social worker Margaret Humphreys (that will leave you with your mouth agape often)and with a beautifully written script that moves briskly ... and, at many turns, into frightening territory, with terrific direction, this is a must-see! Put it on your list! If there is any justice, this one will figure when the awards are handed out!