Film Review: Oranges And Sunshine [dir. Jim Loach; 2010]

In a nutshell: amazing story; very disappointing execution. Jim Loach's debut feature recounts the true incidents that led to social worker Margaret Humphreys' discovery of a shocking, long-running, UK-government scheme of forcibly relocating poor and/or illegitimate children to Australia. Their parents were told that the children had been adopted and were therefore no longer contactable; the children themselves were told that their parents had died. Over the course of several decades, thousands of youngsters were uprooted in this way; many of them still don't know their true identities and haven't been able to trace their families. Like I said, an amazing story. Sadly, Loach's method of telling it ultimately reduces proceedings to the level of a simplistic TV Weepie Of The Month. Emily Watson is excellent in the lead role, using her expressive eyes to convey both resilience and vulnerability, but as a whole, the film makes almost no impact at all.