Oranges and Sunshine

[soonforgotten]

This was definitely an odd one for me. There's no doubting the class of acting involved or that it's an important story being told. Yet, I didn't find the film particularly engaging and I would have preferred it without the sepia tone, I think. It's an interesting story but it's not a very exciting thing to watch. There isn't much drama to it either, which doesn't lend well to a film of this type. I agree fully with superhero. It really should have gone one direction or another, but instead just plopped down in the uneventful middle, which is a shame, because it's a compelling matter. It's just not feature film material.

I'm also wondering what the motivations were for such forced migration. It would have been nice if this was addressed in someway in the film. Instead it feels like the elephant in the room. Even if the reasons have not been disclosed, some discussion of it would have been appreciated. 6.5/10 from me.

[Beate]

Yes, it's my bone of contention too, I mentioned earlier how surprised I was at how unemotional the story was told. It says in the production notes that at no point do you feel manipulated, but to be honest, it would have worked better in a more dramatic way of storytelling, with some big emotional moments that make you understand what they had to suffer. A lot of questions were left unanswered like whether anyone was ever held to account, how big or small the media circus was or how this big migration could have happened in the first place. I would have loved a Q&A with that. Having said that, I still enjoyed the film very much, especially as I hadn't known much about the subject matter beforehand. I am not sure though how much this film will do to bring the subject to the attention of a lot of people.

[prettyxcool]

My full review.

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

Brilliant review kk, could not have said it better myself! Sadly, I have not heard about this story either.

I still feel the story was well told, for me, the pacing was just right for this type of story and I felt there was enough drama to compel me to watch. Had not realised that "the forced migrations continued right through to the early 70′s", that makes it even more shocking and, where the film is lacking for me, as soonforgotten says, there is no discussion or the reasons for the forced migrations, which I thought I may have missed as I lost concentration a bit (as I had an itch on my back, where I could not reach to scratch! )

[wolverina2411]

It is a packed screening but I'm ok with the seat (better than Mayfair ). I told OH about the screening at noon yesterday cause I forgot that I won the tix until I read a reminder email. So we went there without knowing what to expect. Besides, I don't like watching trailer before a movie (prefer reading a short summary). After the show, OH told me he read about this matter when Gordon Brown made a public apology to everyone that was affected by the tragedy. But we still have no idea why it happened? We were guessing, the govt were selling the kids rather than spending so much raising them in homes.

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

So, when I got home I started to check my main source of info...the wikipedia . We're a bit off but it does concern about money. Poor children and parents that were lied to. And it's about 7000 children were deported to Australia and in total of 150K being deported, including Canada and other Commonwealth nations. Woww...

Saving money was one of the motives behind this policy. The children were allegedly deported because it was cheaper to care for them overseas. It cost an estimated £5 per day to keep a child on welfare in a British institution, but only ten shillings in an Australian one.

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

I didn't even know should I or shouldn't I clap... So, I just stood up and leave . I think the story need to be properly elaborate. For a short time, it tries to portray everything the emotional side effect of the children being deported and how the whole thing affecting Margaret and her family. So, there's a lot of loose ends. The whole ensemble was great especially Hugo but I'm kind of confuse about Len. One minute he's very sceptical to margaret and the next minute he was helping and then seems like he's trying to seduce her (may be it just me....that confused! ). Then when he took her to the monastery, the scene gave me the feeling that she'll be attacked. so getting more confused.

My full review.
http://www.thefilmpilgrim.com/reviews/o ... eview/1730

enjoyed your review!

The movie for me wasn't great but it made me aware of this tragedy.... 6/10. have a nice weekend all

[prettyxcool]

It is always money involved. My OH guessed quite correctly that it may have been to do with getting good white stock to the English colonies.

From an article on on http://socyberty.com/issues/deported-ch ... f-britain/

It took place after WWII when over 150,000 British children were sent to distant colonies to take the pressure off of Britain’s over burdened social services.
The program was to provide orphaned and abandoned children with a fresh start and supply the colonies with an abundance of white workers and as unwilling competition between religious faiths.
From 1947 to 1967 parents were lied to and told the children would be well fed and educated as the British government sent their children to populate the colonies with what they called, “good white stock”

Shocking.

[superhero]

Got an email a few days ago asking for feedback on the film, as the charity is going to interview Margaret Humphreys

[superhero]

See here we go, if we are good, there was bound to be a proper code/free screening today!

[a_person]

Are you going?

[superhero]

Not again! although the charity that organised the screening before was nice enough to email us recently for feedback.

[a_person]

oh I didn't realise you watched it.