Noble (2014)

Noble: Directed by Stephen Bradley. With Deirdre O’Kane, Sarah Greene, Brendan Coyle, Liam Cunningham. Christina Noble overcomes the harsh difficulties of her childhood in Ireland to discover her destiny on the streets of Saigon. A true story.

“While this is all sourced as being based on a true story, I almost find that hard to accept, simply because of the sheer number of hurdles involved, on top of the appropriate naming of the titular character, Christina Noble.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film straddles two different arcs; on one hand is the early life of Christina, and all the hardships she faced, and itu0026#39;s incredibly bleak. It makes it all the more impressive to me with how bright and energetic a character Christina is by both actresses that play her as a child and a young woman, and it does feel like the same character the entire way. Christinau0026#39;s Irish upbringing also is somewhat familiar cinematically now as the state of Irelandu0026#39;s treatment of children was showcased recently in another true story, Philomena.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile her early life is simply, well, tragic, the other arc is of much more mixed tone, as she travels to Vietnam after her kids have grown up, now played by Deirdre Ou0026#39;Kane, and she does a great job as Christina, from the humour and tenderness to the strength and determination. She takes the role very naturally, and her portrayal of Christina is very warm, and I think part of this may be Ou0026#39;Kaneu0026#39;s involvement with Christina Nobleu0026#39;s charity beforehand, so I think her performance was strengthened by her personal investment. As she finds a calling helping the homeless children of Vietnam, and tries to figure out how to help, she serves as this great and uplifting protagonist, all the more impressive given that this is, again, actually a true story and really did happen, to at least some extent.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn Vietnam, the story isnu0026#39;t simply carried by Ou0026#39;Kane, but has a great set of supporting roles. Right off the bat, the employee at the hotel front desk that calls himself u0026quot;Mr. Front Desku0026quot; or some such thing has a great role as this begrudgingly helpful curmudgeon, and almost all his lines were great, both in writing, and in performance (and Iu0026#39;m somewhat annoyed that I donu0026#39;t remember a name ever being used for him for me to give the actor proper due). The children in the film are great, and a few of them even have more involved roles, and they actually have all been, or still are, helped by Christina Nobleu0026#39;s charity and that makes me all the more impressed by their involvement as well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt would be very easy of me to criticise the overly dramatic nature of this film and itu0026#39;s lack of believability, but whatu0026#39;s so impressive is that I donu0026#39;t think it actually did take that many liberties to make it the story it is, and as raw as the film is, itu0026#39;s genuine. It does make the film much more powerful, and the points it makes about being poor being a constant experience anywhere is a very salient one, and the way Christina steps up the challenges in Vietnam is extremely compelling. Thereu0026#39;s so many social elements on both small and large scales that this film touches upon, and thatu0026#39;s quite impressive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s something I find very moving about a film with such a vibrant person as Christina Noble (as depicted, but apparently fairly accurate) that faces so many challenges with that strength.”