"Oranges and Sunshine"--based on a shameful period in British and Australian history
Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson) is a social worker in Nottingham, England, who runs a support group for adoptees. After a meeting, an Australian woman approaches her and says, "Help me find out who I am."
It turns out that she was one of countless British children from poor families who were shipped off to Australia without their parents' consent, supposedly to be adopted but in most cases to grow up in grim, abusive orphanages.
This incident is the first inkling that Humphreys has of a forced migration scheme between Britain and Australia that went on for over 100 years. However, there appear to be no official records in either country. She is able to reunite the first Australian woman with her mother, but something about the secrecy and callousness involved gets to her, and she makes it a personal crusade to help the former "child migrants" find their birth families and to gain recognition of their plight, traveling back and forth to Australia and establishing a foundation for their benefit. Hundreds of people turn to her for help, but some of the former abusers are displeased enough to turn violent.
This film is hard to watch at times, but well worth it. Streaming on Hulu Plus and maybe other places, too.
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