One film I had in my For Your Consideration section of The Contenders early on was Jim Loach‘s Oranges and Sunshine, but at the time it didn’t have domestic distribution, there wasn’t any buzz and it seemed like a title that was just taking up space. Now, however, the Cohen Media Group has picked it up and set an October 21 release for the film centered on the real-life struggle of social worker Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson). The thing is… does it stand much of a chance?
The film co-stars Hugo Weaving and David Wenham and I’ve included the full synopsis just below the trailer. Give it a look and you tell me if you think I should seriously consider it for any kind of Oscar love.
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 were subjected to appalling abuse. They were promised oranges and sunshine: they got hard labor and life in institutions.
