What Do The Critics Say?

"Humphreys is played by Emily Watson with quiet, undemonstrative conviction, though Rona Munro's screenplay doesn't often give her that much scope. "Oranges and Sunshine" singles out the stories of two deportees: Hugo Weaving's traumatised veteran and David Wenham's more aggressive younger man. Both performances are excellent. It tells a startling story and how one persistent seeker after truth triumphed despite everything put in her way." Derek Malcolm THIS IS LONDON "Jim Loach, proves a chip off the old block with his feature-film debut Oranges and Sunshine. His film tells the true story of Nottingham social worker Margaret Humphreys, who uncovered the forced deportation of children in care from the United Kingdom to Australia, a scandalous practice that went on for decades but was covered up by both countries. Watson's blazing integrity as Humphreys ensures the story still leaves the viewer reeling in outrage." Jason Best MOVIE TALK "In Oranges and Sunshine, a UK/Australia co-production, director Jim Loach and writer Rona Munro get the balance right. Loach’s restrained direction and excellent casting allows the film to express how the scheme affected people’s lives without it ever becoming melodramatic or sentimental. The film is understated without ever being obtuse so that the audience gets an impression of the harm done to many of the children without it being unnecessarily laboured." Thomas Caldwell CINEMA AUTOPSY "In his feature film directing debut, Jim Loach shows all the sensitivity of his famous director father Ken Loach as he attacks the complex subject matter. Succinctly adapted by Rona Munro from Margaret Humphreys' book Empty Cradles, the film is both an expose and a treasure hunt, in which the search for lost families is undertaken. It is also Humphreys' personal story and the physical and mental anguish she suffers as she absorbs the pain of those who have become emotionally numb." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"This is a terrific film that brought a tear to the eye of many at my preview screening. Yes, I’d read about this story beforehand but it wasn’t until I saw the movie that the emotions kicked in. Director Jim Loach has done a beautiful job capturing the heart and soul of these characters. You will feel sorry for the families affected and be sickened at the government’s involvement. We all know she’s a great actress but Emily Watson again confirms her talent as Margaret Humphreys. Director Jim Loach has done a beautiful job capturing the heart and soul of these characters." Matthew Toomey ABC RADIO BRISBANE "It’s a pretty safe bet that this film had some awfully fine lines to tread. In adapting the memoir of Nottingham social worker Margaret Humphreys, director Jim Loach and screenwriter Rona Munro no doubt had countless personal and political raw nerves to conside. A film that very carefully and empathetically shines a light on this tragic chapter of British and Australian history." Alice Tynan THE VINE "This story burns to be told and not only in Humphreys' own account as a book, but as a film to reach a wide and incredulous audience. Screenwriter Rona Munro and director Jim Loach have shown admirable restraint and sensitivity in unfolding the many tightly bound layers of a despicable series of events orchestrated by authorities and supposedly caring organisations. Emily Watson is perfectly cast as the social worker in the right place at the right moment of history. Humphreys is a quiet and humble woman whose inner strength is revealed." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "Loach's film shows how Humphreys's controversial intervention triggered something like the retrieval of a repressed collective memory. There are excellent performances from Watson, from Hugo Weaving as a gentle, damaged soul and David Wenham, a truculent ex-Bindoon boy who makes an unlikely common cause with Humphreys. Jim Loach's sombre, painful film packs a hard punch." Peter Bradshaw THE GUARDIAN (UK)

The Inside Story Emily, how would you describe what Oranges and Sunshine is about? "It’s about bearing witness to the terrible abuse of innocent children that could have gone without notice. And it’s about one person’s fight to have that story known, and to give those people some sense of identity." Had you heard about the events the film depicts before? "I hadn’t heard of them at all, no and I think it’s been a very, very little known fact. It’s better known in Australia obviously because the migrants are there, but in England, no I’d no idea: outrageous really. Now it’s obviously coming much more into the public eye because of the apologies in both countries." Why did you want to be in this film? "It’s an amazing story: it’s just very, very powerful, compelling stuff. It was nearly two years ago when I met with Jim on a very snowy day in London. My son Dylan was six weeks old and we sat and talked about it for hours. It was one of those things that just felt right from the off." Tell us about your character? "I play Margaret Humphreys who works for Nottinghamshire County Council social services. She’s someone who bears witness to people’s suffering. At the very beginning of the film she’s approached by a woman who says, 'I was sent to Australia from England as a small child without parents or guardians and that’s all I know. Can you help me?' Margaret’s first reaction is disbelief. So she starts following the trail and uncovers this incredible story. The woman is just the tip of the iceberg. When she first starts looking in to it back in the 80s her boss says to her, 'Do you want to take a year or two to do this?' In reality, it’s been her entire life ever since then. It takes an incredible toll on her physically and mentally and emotionally. She tells herself that she’s keeping her distance, that she has boundaries, but in fact she is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, just because of the emotional impact of where she’d been and what she’d been hearing." Did you meet Margaret in real life? "No. I thought long and hard about it and every day when we were filming I would say to myself, 'Maybe I should have met her,' for this reason or that. But I’ve played real people before and in a way you almost get too close: it’s very difficult to be objective about them. And also the way they are physically, the way they sound, becomes a very, very strong imprint and sometimes that’s not helpful when you’re trying to tell a story. You end up just trying to mimic them. But because it’s a film: it’s a story; you have to occupy it in a different way." What other research did you do? "Well there’s obviously Margaret’s book ("Empty Cradles") and there are various documentaries, but for me the most important territory is the emotional stuff and that comes from having your own family and children. It’s just putting yourself in to that imaginative area of what it would be like to be dealing with all this stuff. There is something utterly, utterly compelling about the thought of your own child being abandoned and deported and sent to an abusive children’s home for ten years." And what’s been the most enjoyable part of this role? "I think the most enjoyable thing for me on this film has been the crew and the company. I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a film where just everybody is universally nice. I know that sounds really urgh, but it’s so often the case that there’s a sort of macho, hysterical aspect to film-making. There’s been no tension like that at all and that really comes from Jim - he is incredibly laidback and polite with everybody. The producers took their lead from him and so everyone was just treated properly like human beings. There’s none of that kind of posturing and bullshit going on." Hugo Weaving, what was it that attracted you to the project? "I got the script with a covering letter saying that Emily was involved and that Jim Loach was directing. The material’s just so moving and beautifully written, so it was something I was instantly grabbed by. Once I’d met Jim I was even more interested; I just thought he was a delightful person, very warm and kind of quiet, but intelligent. I was very excited about the idea of working with Emily, and I also knew that David Wenham was involved, so it was the whole package." Who is Jack? "Jack just seemed to me to be a man crying out to be accepted and to have his story recognised. He’s a very gentle soul, a lost soul, quietly working to find something in an undemonstrative way. When we meet him he’s still going through a great deal of issues and a lot of pain. He is estranged from his family as well as from his mother and father. He assumes they’re dead. But he’s just linked up with his sister again." What is his story as shown in the film? "Nicky, Jack’s sister, is part of Margaret’s group in Nottingham and she tells them a story about having found her brother again and shows them a photo of Jack. Quite soon after that Nicky’s persuaded by Margaret to go and see Jack again. They’ve obviously met up before a couple of times and so we first meet Jack at Melbourne Airport, when Nicky and Margaret arrive. Initially he’s very mistrustful of Margaret. Even though he can see that her intentions are probably good, I think he has a great mistrust of social workers, psychiatrists, anyone in bureaucracy, in positions of power or administration. He basically says to Margaret, 'I was told as a child that my mother was dead; now you’re telling me she might be alive, but I don’t really know what to do with that information.' I think he feels at that stage that he doesn’t know whether he would have the strength to meet his mother. But the journey is embarked upon to try and find her." And did you know about the story before you read the script? "I was pretty ignorant of the story really, although I’d seen "The Leaving of Liverpool" (an Australian television drama about the child migrants) many years before so I suppose I did know something about it. Just not the extent of it: that so many young kids had been sent out. The next step after talking to Jim and committing to doing it was reading Margaret’s book, and then I wanted desperately to meet the man on whom Jack is partially based: someone who’d actually come out and had that experience themselves. I was doing a play in Melbourne and I got to meet this wonderful man who’d been sent out as a child from England at the age of ten. He was incredibly forthcoming and generous with his time and we sat and talked for about three hours. That was a wonderful thing to do." And David Wenham, what attracted you to the film? "It was the idea of the film, what the film dealt with. I was aware of the forgotten children but I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t aware of Margaret Humphreys. Reading her story I’ve found it absolutely compelling, an incredible story. Then the pedigree of the people involved in the project as well: Jim who is extremely impressive, having Emily on board who I’ve worked with before, and also Hugo meant it was just a fantastic team to collaborate with." Did you know about the child migrants before making "Oranges & Sunshine"? "I don’t know anybody personally who was or is a forgotten child. There are some people within the public sphere, for example David Hill who is the head of the ABC, and I’ve read about his personal story. I watched "The Leaving of Liverpool" some years ago, so I was aware of it from that perspective." And when the script arrived, what was your initial reaction? "It was terrific when the script came along to revisit something that’s been a forgotten issue, and of course it’s been interesting that it has actually come to the fore over the past few months with the official apology from the Australian and the British government. The film is very timely in that regard." And there's an interesting story involving your researsh?" I was fortunate to be introduced to somebody who went not to Bindoon, but to Clontarf in Perth. I spent two days with him and he took me up to Bindoon and he took me to Clontarf as well and over that period he opened up and told me his personal story and history. It was through listening to him more than anything that I got an insight into what our fictional character of Len must have a) gone through and, b) how he actually responds in reality to the events. So that was the biggest thing for me, actually spending time with this gentleman. He was extremely gracious and generous with his time and his stories, which are obviously very dear and precious to him." How has it been working with Emily? "A couple of months before I was doing this film, I’d mention to people that I was doing it and without exception everybody said, 'Emily Watson? I love Emily Watson.' She’s so highly regarded and she’s certainly incredibly talented, but her choice of films has been really smart as well." And Hugo? "I rate Hugo probably the best actor in Australia. I’d put him number one. I actually think Hugo’s getting better and better as an actor as time goes on. I reckon most people do their best work about 30, but Hugo just keeps improving. I think he’s amazing." Jim, tell us: how did the film come about. "How did it come about? I first met Margaret in 2002. I’d read her book and there’d been one or two small bits in the newspapers in Britain, but not much. Margaret’s got a small office above a café in Nottingham so I went up to see her. At the time I was thinking about a documentary but I wasn’t sure how I could approach it. We just sat there and chatted and at first I think she gave me fairly short thrift to be honest, but we warmed to each other. I stayed in touch with her over the next couple of years and got to know her better. And it was during that process I started to think that her own journey through the whole thing was a way of tackling it as a drama because she started to just speak more about her own experiences." So how did Emily Watson come to be cast as Margaret? "Emily was top of our list right from the really early days and once we’d got to draft five or six we got in touch. Emily had just had her second child when we first met a couple of years ago. It was on the day that London ground to a halt with snow and so it was quite memorable. I trudged over the river and we sat in a café drinking hot chocolate and spent about four hours looking at it from all sorts of different angles. From that moment she was really committed to it." What was the feeling when the government apologies were issued in the middle of your shoot? "It was just the most bizarre bit of timing because it was a project that we’d been working on for years and years. For it all to happen at the same time was really strange." It’s your first feature film, and you chose to shoot it on opposite sides of the world. What problems had to be overcome? "When you start these things you just don’t really think of it in terms of the practicalities. Maybe I should have done! The biggest challenge I think was that when you’re in the UK you focus on the stuff in this country and the Australian element seems so far away. It meant the Australian element could become quite unreal. And then somebody in Australia would have the same problem about the UK. We put a lot of work in to trying to make it coherent" What's It All About?

Oranges and Sunshine tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals of recent times: the deportation of thousands of children from the United Kingdom to Australia. Almost single-handedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and drew worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead, and been sent to children's homes on the other side of the world. Many would suffer appalling abuse. They were promised oranges and sunshine: they got hard labour and life in institutions. On a dank 1986 night in Nottingham, Humphreys is approached by an angry Australian woman named Charlotte, who tells her, "I want to find out who I am."

The Verdict "Jim Loach has shown with this, his first feature film, he has all the savvy and social wisdom of his old man, 2006 Palme d'Or winner Ken Loach ("The Wind That Shakes The Barley"), with this wonderfully crafted tale of Margaret Humphreys OAM (1993) & CBE (2011) (a Nottinghamshire Social Worker) and the part she played in uncovering the truth about the mass transportation and relocation of British children to Australia. But it isn't just the fact that they were transported here that will make your blood boil: it's what befell them when they were dispersed into the community. Duped into believing their parents were dead, some suffered terribly, while otherboys and girls were enslaved and/or systematically sexually abused from the age of five." Fortunately, even though there are some 'intense' moments in "Oranges & Sunshine", Loach and writer Rona Munro, keep it simple, engrossing and insightful. Emily Watson, who produced outstanding performances as Reba McClane in "Red Dragon", Lena Leonard in "Punch-Drunk Love" and Martha Stanley in "The Proposition", once again proves she is an actress of great substance. If her performance here doesn't win audiences over... well! Three time AFI Award winner Hugo Weaving proves yet again how good he is. However, there's one cast member I must tip my hat to, and that is AFI TV and Film Award winner David Wenham (who by the way, played Eden Fletcher in "The Proposition"). Wenham really impressed me with roles in "Molokai" (1999), "The Bank" (2001) and, as the unforgettable Johnny Francis 'Spit' Spitieri in "Gettin Square" (2003). From that point on though, he's been a bit patchy. But here, playing Len, he's bloody marvellous. Cinemagoers will find "Oranges & Sunshine" most inspirational. Humphreys journey has led to a book, "Empty Cradles, which is now available as a Film Tie-In edition, and the creation of the Child Migrants Trust. Highly commended. 4 1/2 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Emily Watson David Wenham Hugo Weaving Tara Morice Lorraine Ashbourne Clayton Watson Stuart Wolfenden Aisling Loftus Richard Dillane Greg Stone Ruth Rickman Kate Rutter Adam Morgan Helen Grayson Alastair Cumming Neil Melville Carolina Giammetta Tammy Wakefield Neil May Tess O'Flaherty Kurt Bayly Harvey Scrimshaw Adam Tedder Margaret Turner John Robinson Marie Wheeler-King

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Margaret Humphreys Len Jack Pauline Nicky CM voice Bill Susie Merv Bob Orphan Vera The Intruder Bureaucrat Australia House Official Monsignor Brutin Charity Rep Susan Councillor Orphan Hotel Attendee Ben Doctor Orphan Researcher in library Rita

The Production Team Directed by Jim Loach Screenplay by Rona Munro Produced by Camilla Bray/Iain Canning/Emile Sherman Original Music by Lisa Gerrard Cinematography by Denson Baker Film Editing by Dany Cooper Casting by Kahleen Crawford Production Design by Melinda Doring Art Direction by Jane Levick & Tuesday Stone Set Decoration by Glen W. Johnson Costume Design by Cappi Ireland Makeup Supervisor Peta Dunstall Production Managers Louise Knight & Fiona Lanyon Run Time 105 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2011 - Icon Film Distribution - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2011 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.