Sherlock has come a long way. And in a short span. From the 2016 season’s finale of Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the condescending and mansplained The Abominable Bride, to Netflix’s recent Enola Holmes and the protagonist’s trials leading to England’s Reform Bills. Both deal with the suffragettes. But while Cumberbatch’s Sherlock makes a mockery of it, Millie Bobby Brown’s Enola—and her mother, the amazing Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes—celebrates womanhood and its many struggles. Who wins the audience’s vote is anybody’s guess.
The film, based on the first book in a series by Nancy Springer that centres on Enola—Sherlock’s sister—is directed by Harry Bradbeer. It gives us the most-unladylike heroine, Enola (or, Alone spelt backwards, if you please). This lady may be in distress, but she does not need saving. If anything, she can use her jujutsu skills to save a dandy Viscount Tewkesbury (played ably by Louis Partridge). Formally unschooled, but an excerpt at deciphering and ciphering at will, Enola is suddenly thrust into the midst of adventure after the disappearance of her mother. How she unscrambles the mystery of her mother’s disappearance; saves Tewkesbury and in turn drives England forward, is what the story is about.
When mentioning Holmes, it is natural to think of the sunken-cheeked and hawk-nosed detective, whose deducing powers are the stuff legends are made of. In Enola Holmes, Sherlock (played by the dimple-chinned Superman, Henry Cavill) fails to impress. Save the smirk that is synonymous with Sherlocks down the ages (Jeremy Brett, Robert Downy Jr and Benedict Cumberbatch), there is little else of Conan Doyle’s creation in Cavill’s face or mannerism. As for the other brother, Mycroft (played by Sam Claflin), the makers meant him to be despicable, and he manages that admirably.
Of course in a film about woman empowerment, it is natural that the women characters would be more appealing. From Enola’s wild and innocent ways that at once make her vulnerable and dangerous, to Eudoria’s passion for a cause that makes her the most non-conventional parent, it is a treat to watch. Even, the Dowager Lady Basilwether, played by Frances de la Tour, is an impressive character—a woman long past her prime, proudly holding on to the relics of an era gone by and adamant to keep it that way.
We suggest give Enola Holmes a watch.