Enola Holmes, a 2020 American mystery film based on the adaptation of the first installment of American author Nancy Springer‘s young adult book series, The Enola Holmes Mysteries premiered on Netflix yesterday (Thursday, September 23, 2020).
The movie centers around a character –Enola, who’s the free-wheeling, strong-willed, and boundary-pushing younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes.
Elona, in her quest to find her missing mother, defies the norms for women of her era and uses her sleuthing skills to outsmart big brother.
However, the movie has received quite a number of criticism since its release on Netflix. But there are some takeaways from it, which are presented in this article.
Below are some important lessons to learn from her misadventures:
- Life is full of twists and turns: No one’s life is straight and predictable. Whatsoever one sets out to do in life, one is bound to experience some unexpected situations and anyone who can so adjust to these unpredictabilities in life is the one who can sail through it. While trying to escape from her brothers in search of her mother, Elona ran into a runaway imminent lord whose life was in danger. And the mission ‘find mother’ soon became ‘find Tewkesbury’.
- Standing up for oneself: The movie contains a strong message about standing up for oneself and one’s beliefs. Enola’s mother is a feminist who fights for women’s rights. A brave and clever girl, Enola learned to stand up for herself from her mother who raised to be the brave and clever girl that she’s. She’s always ready to push back against her brother Mycroft’s sexist slights and above all else, she trusted herself enough to look for her mother and save Tewksbury.
- Being alone doesn’t mean one has to be lonely: Elona in fact is alone spelled backward. Her mother has a liking for riddles and puzzles and one would have thought that to be the only reason for the unusual name but it became clear she was passing a message to her Daughter. Elona who thinks being alone means being lonely and not associating with others came to the understanding that it means finding one’s path, freedom, purpose, and future.
- Being anyone one wants to be: Her Mother taught Elona that she can be whoever she wants to be even if it means defying social norms. And the story didn’t fail to actualise that being anyone one wants to require hard work and sacrifices.
- Sometimes in life, one has to daggle one’s legs in the water to attract the sharks: This was Sherlock Holmes‘ advise to his sister and it means that at one or two points in life one has to take risks. It was Elona and Tewkesbury’s journey into the Tewkesbury’s home that led to the discovery of the person behind the attempts on the Young Lords’ life.
Meanwhile, while the film’s true central conflict is the fight for female liberation in a patriarchal world that has chosen not to evolve, Elona Holmes is a family-friendly adventure movie.
Amongst the attractive elements in the movie is the twists. From viewers’ commens and reviews, it’s safe to say the twists makes it more memorable.
Written by Samiah Olabimpe