Oranges and sunshinme

Oranges and Sunshine (12A) 104 minutes 2011
Corruption and lies under a scorching sun
Someone is responsible; someone must take the blame; somewhere there must be answers.
The brightly named Oranges and Sunshine is the powerful but sombre account of an appalling and yet generally little-known, social injustice. In 1986, a young social worker from Nottingham, Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson), accidentally stumbled across a generation of lost children. Shortly after the Second World War, almost 130,000 infants were torn away from their families, told that their parents were dead and systematically deported to Australia. Expecting a life of sunshine and oranges, they were for the most part, physically and emotionally abused by their carers. Humphreys, overwhelmed by the sheer hopeless isolation began the herculean task of trying to re-unite lost families.

Humphreys and her impossibly understanding and sympathetic husband Merv (Richard Dillane) find themselves inexorably dragged deeper and deeper into an bottomless emotional quagmire at the increasing cost of their personal and family life; "I've given you my mother", Margaret's young son laments to one of the victims at an emotionally charged Christmas party. Tired from the travel, emotionally drained by their suffering and blocked at every turn by faceless bureaucrats, Margaret cracks and suffers a breakdown.
Watson is her usual competent self; undemonstrative, restrained and lacking fuss, trying desperately to remain restrained and professional but failing miserably. The scenes with her own family whom she increasingly neglects, particularly poignant. Yet somehow, she fails to engage, lacking emotional depth and not entirely convincing. The victims are more persuasive; Hugo Weaving is sensitive and fragile radiating emptiness and emotionally lost. David Wenham is equally strong; where Weaver is open, Wenham is closed, overly calm and ready to explode; both appalled by yet addicted to the seminary where he was raised.

Jim Loach plays it safe on his directorial debut choosing to duck the movie’s more controversial moments such as responsibility and blame; the bureaucrats escaping with “we did what we thought right”; the seminary brothers responding with silence and frowns. In 2010, some 23 years after Margaret’s initial encounter, the governments of Great Britain and Australia finally acknowledged their respective roles and issued an official apology. Yet to date, no individuals have been identified, questioned or charged and now almost certainly, never will. A generation of children remain lost, isolated and without justice.
A challenging but worthwhile night out. 7/10

Dick Morgan
April 2011