Should anyone ever question the value of the film industry then the innocently titled "Oranges and Sunshine" is a film that, on its own, could quite easily justify its existence.
Whilst the acting, production and direction are superb, the film's dark subject matter overshadows all, and its disturbing revelations require no dramatisation. As the psychological damage caused to a whole generation of "stolen" children becomes clear, it is difficult to comprehend the sheer immensity of the systematic betrayal of trust suffered by a staggering number of British families, and perpetrated by those in authority who should have known better.
"Oranges and Sunshine" covers a mere handful of tragic stories in various ways, all very effective. These stories expose a truly shameful episode in British history, and the way in which those affected adapted to their fate - with varying degrees of success. What is clear though is that for better or worse, this childhood experience has indelibly marked them for the rest of their lives.
Although the children who were torn away from their mothers may not have been marshalled roughly onto rail wagons, on a one way trip to oblivion, a very clear parallel can be drawn between the ghastly regime in Nazi Germany, and the ghastly regimes that allowed this despicable scheme to continue, and which do not appear, from the facts as depicted in this film, to have been brought to account.
The parallel is that when good men and women fall silent, and no-one challenges the systemic abuse of power by those in authority, then the arrogant, the incompetent, the weak-willed, the lazy and, indeed, the downright evil, triumph.
To me that is the enduring message of this brilliant yet incredibly sad film. It is a repeated lesson we seem incapable of learning, no matter how many times emotionally evocative films like this attempt to remind us.
