By Anju
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Helena Bonham Carter, Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill
Language: English
Platform: Netflix
Period films always have a time of their own, an incomparable aura, energy, and a certain amount of mystery around them. Speaking of mystery, what better solvers of mystery can there be than the Holmes’ family. Yes, the same Holmes’ family that the famed private detective, Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) belongs to. Who knew he was the son of the jack (and a master) of all trades mother, Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter); had an elder brother who works for the government (Sam Claflin) and a free spirited younger upcoming sleuth sister, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown), the titular character of the film.
Based on the first book of the series of the same name, The Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer, this Harry Bradbeer’s adaptation of Enola Holmes’ is an exhilarating roller coaster ride of the exuberant Enola Holmes who sets out searching for her missing mother and ends up saving a lord who has runaway from his home.
Born in 18th century England, Enola Holmes whose name spelt backwards as Alone, is indeed a girl of her own. Her mother Eudoria homeschools her, involves her in both physical and mental activities and makes her to be an independent woman instilling ideals of feminism in her. Enola learns everything from word games like scrabble, to tennis and martial art of Jujitsu. She is inculcated the habit of reading all kinds of books be it science, literature, arts,sports or adventure. This is the time when England is going through a revolution with women fighting for their personal and political rights on one side and what with reform bill on the other. Eudoria herself is wacky, strong feminist naturally being a part of Suffragette.
Enola turns sweet sixteen. She wakes up and goes to her mother’s room to receive her birthday gift but finds her missing. Instead, she is left with a note. This has clues to find her mother, and also a clue to the money left for her. At the same time, her much elder handsome brothers Mycroft and Sherlock are visiting after many years. She’s at the train station to receive them and they don’t recognize her. When she approaches them they don’t believe her at first and find her unkempt. They learn that their mother is missing after reaching home. Mycroft being the big brother, not giving Sherlock a chance to say much, blames his mother for not grooming Enola well. He takes her as his ward and decides to send her to a finishing school run by Miss Harrison(Fiona Shaw). Enola retorts saying her mother has taught her well and she doesn’t need a finishing school as “she doesn’t need a husband”. That night she takes the money her mother has left and escapes from her brothers. She disguises herself as a boy and boards a train to London. Here she meets a cute same aged Lord Viscount Tewkesbury(Louis Partridge) coming out from a bag in the compartment. He too has runaway from his family who are after him to vote for the reform bill. He’s being chased by a weird looking man, Linthorn(Burn Gorman) that his family has employed. Enola comes up with a plan to rescue him and together they jump off the train leaving Linthorn fuming. Not knowing what to do, they wander through the plains and woods where sparks of romance fly between them. Enola decides to reach London however possible and disguises Tewkesbury by chopping off his long grown hair. After reaching London, they go their separate ways.
Enola dresses herself up as a lady and finds a place to live. She starts to follow clues to find her mother. This leads her to Edith(Susie Wokoma) who runs a tearoom downstairs while secretly teaching Jujitsu upstairs to women. Here Enola finds some bombs and explosives with cryptic clues to Limehouse Lane. She follows to the place and finds it to be a storehouse for the same explosives. Linthorn attacks her here in all possible violent ways in order to extract information about Tewkesbury’s whereabouts. Enola disguises herself as a widow and reaches Tewkesbury estate at Basilweather Hall to offer her help to search the Viscount. In the estate she runs in with an inspector, Lestrade(Adeel Akhtar) secretly stationed by Mycroft to search for her. She suspects a foul play and goes back to London.
In London, she finds Tewkesbury at a flower market and gets him to her room to hide him. Lestrade follows her here and Enola being unable to block him asks Tewkesbury to escape and gets caught. She again is in the hands of Mycroft who personally drops her to the same finishing school. After a while, she escapes from the school in a basket through Tewkesbury who has come as a shipment package to her. Together they reach the estate and gets attacked by Linthorn again. He almost kills them though Enola uses all her defensive skills. Here it is revealed the real villain to be Tewkersbury’s grandmother, The Dowager(Frances de la Tour) who wants to kill her grandson so that her son can vote for the much talked about reform bill.
Enola has moved to a better place with the reward money for finding Tewksbury. She restarts tracing her mother through clues and finds the latter to be in her room who can’t stay longer. She tells Enola that she did all these for her to come into her own and be a confident independent lady. Briefly though, they tightly embrace each other. At House of Lords, Viscount Tewkersbury is all set to vote for the bill. Enola comes to wave him bye but with a glint in her eye assures him that he isn’t done with her yet. She rides off recalling her mother’s words “let future be upon us”, hinting us of a sequel in the works.
Millie Bobby Brown dons many hats as she is also the film’s producer. As Enola, she often breaks the fourth wall. The film conveys a lot of important messages without becoming too overbearing. The screenplay by Jack Thorne is excellent. The ethos of the 19th century Victorian England is aptly portrayed. London’s bustling streets and countryside landscapes is stunning and a treat to the eyes. Music composed is English and according to the detective nature of the film. All departments – casting, dialogues, costumes, production design get a thumbs up. The film engages us thoroughly with intertwining twists and turns. Enola is feisty, outrightly confident, intelligent and full of life. Helena is aptly suited for her role true to the quirky nature she always portrays. Sam Claflin displays the overprotectiveness and sternness through his eyes well. We don’t get to see Sherlock in action much. It is understandably obvious as the movie is about Enola. We might get to see her become a full fledged female sleuth of her own and solve cases with or like her brother Sherlock. Or in true Enola style.
Stars: ***.5
My thoughts 