Oranges and Sunshine
Metascore
60 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 17
  3. Negative: 2 out of 17
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  1. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    Oct 18, 2011
    90
    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.
  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    Oct 27, 2011
    88
    It's powerful, gut-wrenching stuff, and it doesn't need tarting up.
  3. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    Oct 21, 2011
    83
    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?

User Reviews

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User Score
7.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. NJWolfgang
    9
    I would have given this a ten but there were times when some of the dialogue of those being interviewed was lost. It didn't matter that it was lost because you easily grasped what had taken place but if you want to draw the viewer into the film and involve them emotionally then you need to make sure that there are no missing pieces. Emily Watson was perfectly cast and as I watched I was reminded so much of Mike Nichol's Silkwood. Maybe because the heroine reminded me so much of the heroine in Silkwood. The acting is above average and last scenes of the men being interviewed by Humprey's is riveting and heart breaking. The other issue is that this was so underplayed. Not by the actors but by the director and the screenwriter. This was a missed opportunity. An incredible story of so many British children taken and used as slave labor, abused, molested, It's a sad revealation.… Full Review »
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