386. Oranges And Sunshine (2010)

Starring: Emily Watson, Aisling Loftus, Stuart Wolfenden

Director: Jim Loach

Running Time: 98 mins

Oranges And Sunshine is a British film that follows the story of the woman, Margaret Humphrys, who uncovered the incredible scandal when thousands of children in care were deported from Britain to Australia.

This film was fascinating. I was really impressed with the depiction of the uncovering of this story, as it managed to bring together the emotionally damaging aspects that Humphrys experienced while discovering these unbelievable events, as well as the factually very interesting side of things.

Before we get into the good bits, of which there were many, I’ve just got to say that this film does take it out of you. Yes, on the one hand, it’s quite an emotionally draining story, however some parts of the film itself are extremely slow, and therefore I struggled to really get into the plot, especially at the beginning.

However, I have to say that once it really got going, when Margaret was meeting with the people who had been displaced from their families as children, it was a hugely intriguing story to follow; emotionally encompassing, and above all, incredibly fascinating.

The characters were also very well developed throughout, especially the main one, showing that she was no Florence Nightingale, as it was evident the hardships that she was experiencing while uncovering this scandal to produce, in effect, a miracle, giving it a much more realistic and subsequently involving touch.

Overall, I’ll give this a 7.1, because although it was slow-starting, I felt enlightened by this incredible story that I was largely unaware of prior to watching this film.