The very moving documentary Into the Arms of Strangers probed the humanitarian effort conducted during the months prior to World War II when British foster families and others took into their homes some 10,000 Jewish children from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
As a rescue operation, it was an act of mercy without historical precedent. Another program during the war involved finding foster homes in the country for children from English cities that were being bombed during the Blitz. That's the background for this touching film.
Summerland revolves around Alice (Gemma Atherton), a fiercely independent and reclusive young woman who lives alone in a seaside cottage in Kent. As the film opens, she is an elder (Penelope Wilton) who still has plenty of spunk and discipline left in her. But her life and loneliness has been shaped by a love affair during the 1920s with Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who eventually broke off their relationship because she wanted to get married and become a mother.
Most of the film takes place in the 1940s during World War II. Much to her chagrin, Alice learns that she is expected to take into her home a teenage evacuee from London, Frank (Lucas Bond). She agrees he can stay a week while the evacuation organizers in town find him another place to stay. But he surprises her with his equanimity, wonder, and sensitivity. Alice begins to connect with the boy when she tells him about her research into mythology and, in particular, "The Summerland," a pagan rendition of the afterlife.
Jessica Swale does a fine job in her debut as a director, especially in moving with ease between three separate time periods. Although Alice has never wanted to raise a child, or even be around children, she turns out to be capable of showering Frank with love, attention, and creativity. He, in turn, helps her see and feel the mother within. This well-acted film draws out the spiritual meaning of nurturing. As we wrote in Spiritual Literacy, "All of us, male and female, single or married, young or old, have the capacity to give birth and raise something in the world."