Enola Holmes Movie Review

 

To all the mothers, fathers (yes, I don’t think parenthood is any genders’ single responsibility) and their children out there, Enola Holmes is a movie, you all must watch. If you need further reasons to substantiate my claim, do read further.

“Then why did she abandon you?” is the question used by many to silence Enola Holmes played by Millie Bobby Brown - “Stranger Things” fame who is a delight throughout the movie, seeing her constant conquest to find her mother, Eudoria Holmes. Not just for an American audience, but for a typical Indian society too, an unconventional mother like Eudoria bringing up a girl child like Enola alone, is a recipe for disaster. Goodness forbid if the parents especially mother leaves the child for whatsoever reason except for death, then when fathers will be termed irresponsible, mothers will be termed as everything bad the universe has to offer.  Our idea of parenting is never complete without parents especially mothers being overbearing on their children, restricting them in the name of disciplining, early on teaching them to fit into a box and following the herd.

Growing up, though I am pretty sure it wasn’t planned, my parents were a mix of both. By the arrival of the second child that is me, both of them were tired of pretending to give any damn as their efforts to retrieve matters were constantly proven to be in vein, but they were also torn between society’s expectations from them, about how to be perfect parents. So, while they implemented all the ideal parenting things the wrong ways, in their own unique ways, taught me the most valuable lessons of life. 

Like my mother always used to tell both me and my sister to do our paper works on our own, so from retrieving our long-forgotten birth certificates to starting a junior bank account, I remember being on my own, which at that point honestly felt like a bummer. She also insisted that both of us must get our masters degree and a job to have a source of income for ourselves. The amount of flack she received for sending her daughters out of state for education and she combating all of it with silence was an everyday incidence. 

All this while, my father taught me everything unconventional, things that “girls” are not supposed to learn or say and made me believe that I can do anything I wanted to. Whenever the traditional norms from family proved overbearing, he couldn’t or maybe he chose not to fight back but did assure me that it’s just a phase and I am not supposed to be bound by these for long and that I will find my way out. Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes in the movie, reminded me a lot of him.

Unlike Eudoria Holmes (played by the brilliant Helena Bonham Carter), none of our parents left us on their own but as the tides of age passed, we did part our ways on bittersweet notes and similar to Enola in the movie, since the parting, at each step, we started getting reminded of how everything good and bad they did, either made us vulnerable or prepared us good enough to take on the world on our own. Continents and states apart, over years our bond has only grew stronger and that happened not for the traditional manners they taught us but for the unconventional ways of parenthood they adopted and the courage and life lessons it gave us which were almost the only thing for us to fallback in times of crisis. By being the way, they were originally, they paved ways to support us even when they were not around, which I believe is the best gift of love and concern you can provide your child. Like Enola, we might take a bit of time to recognize that “it’s a world that needs change”, but trust me we will be forever grateful.  

Stop feeding into the godly image of parents on a pedestal set by the society and be yourself to your children. Make them understand that we are all individual with flaws and prone to mistakes and vulnerabilities. More than that both the parents having their own lives, career, aspirations and dreams will only inspire the children to develop their individual personality and generate the courage to build and chase their own life.

Our actions speak louder than words for the kids, so unabashedly fight against the societal norms and they will get the knowledge and courage to fight back on their own automatically. From their childhood, speak out against the norms that society tries to impose on you, your children and their upbringing. And moreover, the world is not perfect, not even close, although it pretends to be. Do not let the children believe so either, prepare them to be the changemakers who will bring in the shift we aspire to see, one tiny change at a time. “Our future is up to us”

Just like my whole narrative on parenting has multiple versions to it, with twists and turns good enough to take forever to conclude, Enola Holmes movie also has multiple narratives coming together to create a complicated storyline, with so many plotlines that doesn’t always find the proper conclusion. But when has parenting, parents, children and their upbringing ever been a straight road? So, I didn’t find it too much distracting. Enola Holmes is a movie that has the potential to be the perfect alternative to the utterly unrealistic and harmfully generalized stories that we feed to our children.

While Enola Holmes as a movie does also carry a narrative of typical Sherlock Holmes mystery solving, for me it was more about the journey of a woman in search of herself although she believe otherwise, a mother who believes in a purpose bigger than what the world can digest, familial bonds that grow along with us and finally about being oneself in a world bound to change yet adamant not to.

P.S. I somehow could sense the Tewkesbury family mystery way ahead, from the time the puzzle is on screen, is it the fault of storyline or my brain is way too good with finding rusting yet poisonous family creature adamant against change?

Picture Courtesy: IMDb, Boston Herald, Comic Book News, Roger Ebert, Screen Rant