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.
Question: Did you know about the story before you read the script? Hugo Weaving : 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. Question: What did you discuss? Hugo Weaving : The school he'd been to, his early life, his marriage, his kids and then his descent into depression; his attempted suicide and his finding his way out of that.
Then he tried to contact his mother and get in touch with his sister and then he met Margaret. It was an invaluable experience talking to him and that was my primary research. Question: What was the impact of the government apologies while you were filming? Hugo Weaving : The day I left for the shoot in England Kevin Rudd apologised, and so by the time I landed all the English papers were full of it - which is extraordinary really after such a long time.
I was driving along in the afternoon listening to the PM crying; it was incredibly moving and just so tragic. All these people have probably tried to tell their stories many times but no one's really listened. So for it to suddenly break in that way must have been an incredible vindication of who they were and where they'd been and what happened to them.
But at the same time it seemed extraordinary that it should have taken so many years Question: What are the challenges for an actor playing a real-life character? Hugo Weaving : With any character the challenge is to do as much research and psychological investigative work as possible, in order to try to understand their motivations and complex psychology. Then you have to let go of all of that and just try to exist on the day in the moment.
Question: What's it been like working with Emily Watson? Hugo Weaving : Really delightful. She's such an intelligent and sensitive and very present human being. I suppose I don't really know her very well, but I've always loved her work from Breaking the Waves through to Synecdoche and everything in between, so I was really thrilled with the idea of working with her. Question: How is Jim Loach as a director? Hugo Weaving : He's a lovely, calm, sweet man and he's obviously intelligent and knows what he wants.
We sometimes didn't know whether it was a take or a rehearsal, which is always a good thing because it means it's seamless. It all seems to have the same uncomplicated energy to it. He has a great empathy for the characters. Hugo Weaving : Well it's interesting that the title Oranges and Sunshine is something that Jack says.
He was asked as a child whether he wanted to go to Australia where he could live in a white house, ride a horse to school and be able to pick oranges off the trees for his breakfast and where the sun shines every day. That was the sort of golden promise that these children were sold and then in the same breath someone said to him, 'Well you might as well go because your mum's dead. It's the great promise and the great lie, the great untruth that was told to these innocent children who were damaged for so many, many years and probably irrevocably.
And it's the journey that Margaret takes to try to heal that and give them some sense of who they are and what has happened to them, gain them some sort of recognition. So to me it's really about abandonment and lies and then being accepted again.
Question: What attracted you to the film? David Wenham : 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.
Question: What did you know about the child migrants before? David Wenham : I don't know anybody personally who was or is a forgotten child.
User reviews 66 Review. Top review. A secret buried by time. One woman will bring the truth to light. It is always a jolt when a bit of buried history surfaces and makes us realize that the world is not all that sane as we would like to believe: the Chaos Factor raises its ugly head as in this screen adaptation by Rona Munro of Margaret Humphreys' true story book 'Empty Cradles'.
This is a very powerful film, all the more so because of the quality of acting and direction by Jim Loach who never lets the film run out of control despite the unveiling tragedy. The story is set in the s where Nottingham, social worker Margaret Humphreys Emily Watson is a social worker who encounters a middle aged woman who has traveled form Australia to find her birth parents. Margaret at first doesn't want to increase her workload with a wild tale of children having been deported form England by ship to be placed in orphanage work camps in Australia, but with the aid of her supportive husband Merv Richard Dillane she begins to investigate the uncovered secret, ultimately traveling to Australia where she meets the 'unwanted children' as adults each longing to return to the UK to meet their families.
The children when deported were as young as four to thirteen years old and had been told their parents either were dead or didn't want them and the representatives from the government promised them a safe home with 'oranges and sunshine' in Australia.
There are several 'victims' as played by Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Russell Dykstra and others who help personalize the unspoken crime until Margaret progresses to the point where she can hold the British government accountable for child migration schemes and reunite the children involved -- now adults living mostly in Australia -- with their parents in Britain. Though the deportations occurred from the 's through the 's it was only after Margaret Humphrey's book and then much later after when February Great Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown finally issued a full apology to those deported children and their families.
The supporting cast is uniformly excellent but it is the glowing performance by Emily Watson that makes this revelation of a film remain in the mind long after the credits explain how the solution played out in reality. This is a tough film but an important one and deserves a much larger audience than it has found. Grady Harp. Details Edit. Release date April 1, United Kingdom.
United Kingdom Australia. Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Does Stan have international content? While Stan is the premier place to find both original and syndicated Australian content, it doesn't slouch when it comes to international fair with a wide selection of international television and movies to fit any mood you may be in. What devices can i use with Stan? You can enjoy Stan on a wide variety of devices ranging from Smart TVs, gaming consoles, media players, PC and Mac, tablets and mobile phones.
Good to know Is Oranges and Sunshine on Amazon Prime? No Oranges and Sunshine is not available on Amazon Prime. Is Oranges and Sunshine on Binge? No Oranges and Sunshine is not available on Binge. Is Oranges and Sunshine on Disney Plus? No Oranges and Sunshine is not available on Disney Plus. Streaming 4 Providers. Full review. Total Film A forgotten generation remembered… Full review. Empire Magazine Moving if low-key, Jim Loach's debut feature is proof that compassionate, socially conscious filmmaking runs in the family.
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