Oranges and Sunshine

[valda]

The Moving Picture Company looks lush, can't wait to get there

[superhero]

It's quite small and the incline is not good...

[Beate]

Yeah it's not nearly as great as the Soho Hotel.

[Beate]

Anyone going to the venue tonight please be advised that there are severe delays on the Northern Line so best approach via another line.

[Beate]

The MPC was overrun tonight, they had to add chairs to the screening room, and still I believe some people were turned away. Can't say I agree with overbooking like that, and I believe there might have been a problem with the guest list, as my name was not on it, even though OH's was (and I put both names in the same email). They simply added me though, and as we were early we got a seat.

The film was certainly very good, with excellent performances all round. It was astounding though how unemotional the story was told, it's not what I expected after having watched the powerful trailer, but then it wasn't an American film. Of course it is very difficult to tell the whole story in 105 minutes, but I was kind of hoping for a big emotional moment which never came, apart from Emily Watson constantly bursting into tears in place of the grown-up kids who couldn't anymore. But then she said so herself, there wouldn't ever be a solution for what happened, and it was a case of quietly bringing families together and in some small ways righting what was wronged. I don't think any of the organisations that mistreated the children have ever been brought to account, or have they?

It would be interesting to read Margaret Humphreys' book to maybe find out how it was possible to ship 130,000 children to Australian orphanages without anyone noticing that something wasn't quite right.

8/10

[valda]

I was wondering if maybe some of the staff came in? Some one came in from a side door with a chair and seemed to know the guy handing out chairs.

I fell asleep for about 20 mins and only came alert when there was a lot of banging and shouting going on. I think I must have missed some really crucial parts. Its not that the film sent me to sleep, its just me and my insomnia getting on top of me. I wasn't aware of this awful thing happening to children in the 50's, I'd heard about the Aboriginal children but not the English, truly shocking. 7/10

[prettyxcool]

I thought that too, it was jammed packed, probably as some of the staff decided to come in at the last minute as Valda says, they seem to know each other. Lovely to see Beate, valda and soonforgotten. Wasn't being rude, Beate, my OH decided that we needed to sit in the centre of the room, as screen seems quite small.

Thought Emily Watson was perfect in the role and the true story was very well told. It was heartbreaking to learn that 130,000 children were told their parents were dead and shipped to Australia. However, I did not understand why this was done by the Governments at the time. Was not sure if the film explained this or had I missed it? 8/10

[superhero]

Oh I got confused, this one's not bad, I was thinking of the cinema showing test screenings (well the one that showed the chinese kung fu film recently). Thats got a bad incline

Yeah it's not nearly as great as the Soho Hotel.

[kevinknapman]

My full review.

http://www.thefilmpilgrim.com/reviews/o ... eview/1730

[superhero]

Nice review KK, I wish I had the time and knowledge to write like that!

I think the subject matter demands immediate respect and no one dares to write a negative review. I purposely didn't read about the film beforehand or read the production notes at the screening and I was pleasantly surprised such an important subject matter was finally put on screen, I had actually seen quite a lot about it with the recent governmental apologies on the news and it's an incredibly touching subject matter. There were some highly charged emotional scenes in this film, like when Hugo Weaving realises he was just too late to meet his mother or Emily Watson meeting the brothers near the end of the film and choking back her emotions. I've always liked Emily Watson as an actress and once again she shows how much of a class act she is in this film.
Where I do have a problem is with the tone of the film, I would much rather it was a documentary style film or a out and out Hollywood slick(er) production, maybe abit more like Conviction. In both films, the main protaganist dedicate their life to the cause at the detriment of their family.
For such a low budget film, I was really surprised with the period detail and wonder how much CGI was used? The old double decker london buses? I went to Melbourne airport a year ago and it certainly looks nothing like in the film...

The film's alright, but I feel everyone is going to rate it higher because of the weighty subject matter, but I feel the tone is an unconvincing compromise 6/10

PS the clapping at the end of the film was the most half-hearted I've heard recently.