Oranges and Sunshine
Cohen Media Group | Release Date: October 21, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
7
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Village VoiceErnest HardyOct 18, 2011
At the film's center is Emily Watson's pitch-perfect performance as Margaret Humphreys, the real-life social worker who in 1986 stumbled over the hidden practice. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 27, 2011
It's powerful, gut-wrenching stuff, and it doesn't need tarting up. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 21, 2011
The most powerful sequences in the movie are the linked vignettes involving Margaret and the various grown-up children whom she attempts to help in their search for – what, exactly? Closure? Catharsis? Read full review
80
Time OutSam AdamsOct 18, 2011
The movie belongs to Hugo Weaving and David Wenham, both playing what one newspaper dubs "the lost children of the Empire," men broken by the appalling conditions that met them in their new homeland. Read full review
80
VarietyRichard KuipersOct 18, 2011
A deeply moving study of emotionally scarred adults who were illegally deported as children to Australia from Britain in the 1940s and '50s. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleLeba HertzOct 27, 2011
Emily Watson, who always brings a special grace to the screen, gives a multilayered performance to the role of Margaret Humphreys. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 26, 2011
One question is not addressed by the movie: Why were the children deported in the first place? Yes, we know the "reasons," but what were the motives? Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnOct 24, 2011
Of course, it might take time for Jim Loach to catch up with his father's track record; Oranges & Sunshine is a good place to start. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenOct 20, 2011
Rona Munro's screenplay for Oranges and Sunshine is unnecessarily flighty. As the story ricochets between Britain and Australia, the film often loses track of time and becomes fragmented as it struggles to integrate too many subplots. What holds it together is Ms. Watson's calm, sturdy performance. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid HughesOct 17, 2011
Moving if low-key, Jim Loach's debut feature is proof that compassionate, socially conscious filmmaking runs in the family. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithOct 21, 2011
Making a true story of social injustice into a gripping narrative requires more imagination than is contained in this well-intentioned but uninspired effort. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyOct 20, 2011
Sometimes the facts can get in the way of the drama, and that's the central problem here. That sense of needing to be true to the record is reflected in an overwhelmed screenplay. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterNatasha SenjanovicOct 18, 2011
Sunshine is stretched thin for the big screen. The decidedly art-house film is better suited for television. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesOct 27, 2011
The result is a problem drama with more problem than drama. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 21, 2011
The movie lumbers, and Loach and screenwriter Rona Munro's affectless approach winds up tamping down the movie's good intentions. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyNov 3, 2011
Oranges and Sunshine is like a Mike Leigh movie drained of all its bodily fluids. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerOct 17, 2011
The film is so careful to avoid the luridness that would seem inevitably to accompany an excavation of child kidnapping, forced labor, and rape, that the result is a plodding, overly tasteful procedural that holds up its hero as an incorruptible embodiment of goodness. Read full review
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