From a rough childhood growing up in Dublin, Christina Noble true calling in life came in 1989, when she travelled to Vietnam to care for the country's abused children, leading her to set up the Christina Noble Children's Foundation. To this day, she is a noted children's rights campaigner and charity worker. All this is explored in Noble, with Cramer Curtis, Sarah Greene, and, most prominently, Deidre O'Kane playing her at the key stages of her life.
Switching back and forth between her childhood, which brings in the three pillars of patented Irish misery on film (a drunken father, poverty, and the nuns) but thankfully doesn't hammer you over the head with it (well, not too much), and her ongoing quest to help the poor and sick children of Vietnam, you cotton onto the movies narrative structure pretty early on, each flashback treated as almost an episode to punctuate or elaborate what has come before it. Writer/director Stephen Bradley is tad too heavy handed in the opening scenes, which sees Curtis's Christina sing for her supper, avoiding a ludicrously demonised police officer, while her father (Liam Cunningham, perfect as usual) drinks away what little money he has. You feel like the misery is stuffed down your throat sometimes, with many of the characters being paper thin caricatures. Thankfully, he eases up as the movie progresses, showing this story has a lot of heart, and when Sarah Greene takes over as the teenage Christina, things pick up considerably. Her friendship with Ruth Negga's Joan is sweet and heartfelt, and Greene brings a lot to the character, especially an upbeat, positive attitude that refuses to be squashed by the horrible things that happen to her. Her conversations with God, which could have become ridiculous, are handled with care, but they do add an element of fantasy that is mishandled, and sits uneasily with the rest of the movie.
Obviously, her dealings in Vietnam dominates proceedings, and Deidre O'Kane is fine in the role, though sometimes coming across as stilted. There are certain moments that her delivery of the script borders on regurgitation, but she perfectly captures the real Noble's dry delivery and dogged determination. The plot is predictable, with characters dropping in and out, sometimes doing a complete 180 in terms of how they are portrayed, just to advance the story. But there is a wonderful feel good aspect to the whole affair, and it will leave you with a smile on your face.
Not entirely perfect, Noble is a great feel good story. Once or twice, it does threaten to fall apart, but is thankfully held together by O'Kane and Greene, especially.
