Oranges and Sunshine

The film is based on the true story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the scandal of "home children",{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/feb/20/margaret-humphreys-child-migrants-trust | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Aida | last=Edemariam |author-link=Aida Edemariam| title=People should sort this mess | date=20 February 2010}} a scheme of forcibly relocating poor children from the United Kingdom to Australia and Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Hollywood-flick-tell-story-Notts-social-worker/article-1379110-detail/article.html|title=Hollywood flick to tell story of Notts social worker|date=30 September 2009|access-date=18 July 2010|publisher=thisisNottingham|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417230830/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Hollywood-flick-tell-story-Notts-social-worker/article-1379110-detail/article.html|archive-date=17 April 2010|url-status=dead}}

Deported children were promised "oranges and sunshine" but they instead got hard labour and life in institutions such as Keaney College in Bindoon, Western Australia. Many were given to the Congregation of Christian Brothers, where they suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the brothers.{{cite web |url=http://www.cacbindoon.wa.edu.au/history.html |title=College History |work=Catholic Agricultural College Bindoon |year=2002 |access-date=17 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124032122/http://www.cacbindoon.wa.edu.au/history.html |archive-date=24 November 2011 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/apr/07/child-migrants-oranges-and-sunshine-film|title=Child migrants: 'I didn't belong to anybody'|author=Patrick Barkham|work=The Guardian}}

Despite the numerous death threats from those who try to stop her, Margaret is successful in reuniting estranged families, who are situated in Australia and the UK, and brings worldwide attention to the cause.

{{div col}}

• Emily Watson as Margaret Humphreys
• Hugo Weaving as Jack
• David Wenham as Len
• Richard Dillane as Merv Humphreys
• Tara Morice as Pauline
• Stuart Wolfenden as Bill
• Kate Rutter as Vera
• Lorraine Ashbourne as Nicky
• Federay Holmes as Charlotte
• Helen Grayson as Bureaucrat
• Ruth Rickman as Orphan
• Harvey Scrimshaw as Ben
• Molly Windsor as Rachel
• Neil Pigot as James
• Tammy Wakefield as Susan
• Adam Morgan as the Intruder
• Neil May as the Commuter
• Adam Tedder as the Doctor
• Mandahla Rose as nurse
• Greg Stone as Bob
• Aisling Loftus as Susie
• Geoff Morrell as Walter
• Russell Dykstra as Dan
• Chandran Owen as Pointing man in the street

{{div col end}}

Filming took place in Adelaide, South Australia, in Nottingham, and at Wirksworth in Derbyshire. Some interior scenes were filmed at the University of Leicester, Leicestershire, in Nottingham County Hall and in the porte-cochère of Nottingham railway station. Other locations that appear are a train on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway; Australia House in London and an overview of Nottingham Council House and the Old Market Square.

A casting session was held in Nottingham to find one boy and one girl for the roles of Margaret's children.{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Notts-youngsters-hope-land-new-film/article-1410052-detail/article.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130114040848/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Notts-youngsters-hope-land-new-film/article-1410052-detail/article.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 January 2013|title=Notts youngsters hope to land part in new film|date=12 October 2009|access-date=18 July 2010|publisher=thisisNottingham}}

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 71% based on reviews from 73 critics. The website's critics consensus reads, "Grounded in a heartwrenching fact-based story, steered by Loach's sensitive direction, and led by a powerful performance from Watson, Oranges and Sunshine sidesteps its pacing problems and occasionally clichéd screenplay."{{cite web |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oranges_and_sunshine/ |title=Oranges And Sunshine |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes |year=2014 |access-date=28 November 2023}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|1438216}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|oranges_and_sunshine}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100819221903/http://www.sixteenfilms.co.uk/films/film/oranges_and_sunshine/ Sixteen Films]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110513031001/http://www.orangesandsunshine.com.au/ orangesandsunshine.com.au ]
• [http://www.childmigrantstrust.com/ Child Migrants Trust] Official website for reuniting children

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oranges And Sunshine}}

Category:2010 films

Category:2010 drama films

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:Australian biographical drama films

Category:British biographical drama films

Category:Drama films based on actual events

Category:English-language biographical drama films

Category:Films about forced migration

Category:Films about Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals

Category:Films about post-traumatic stress disorder

Category:Films set in the 1980s

Category:2010s British films

Category:Films scored by Lisa Gerrard

Category:See-Saw Films films

Category:BBC Film films

Category:Screen Australia films