Enola Holmes is originally a Warner Bros 2020 mystery film that told the evolution story of a girl, Enola Holmes into a strong-willed and independent thinking young woman. Enola was home-taught and molded by her mother, Eudoria into an intelligent, observant, and insightful young lady that defies the social norms for women of that time.
We saw how knitted both mother and daughter were but it happened that one fateful morning Enola woke up to find that her mother had disappeared. Her two grown brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes who had left home shortly after their father’s death returned home due to their mother’s disappearance.
The elder brothers, especially the first son, Mycroft Holmes; were displeased to realize that their mother had trained Enola their sister not to conform to societal expectations. According to social codes, Enola became the first son’s ward and he wanted to train Enola to become a perfect lady as the society expects so he got her a tutor.
Enola resents the training to conform to society’s bids so she used the clues her mother left behind as her guide to abscond from the house in the pursuit of finding her mother. Enola found the courage to leave the house in her mother’s words ‘Our future is up to us, there are two paths you can take Enola, yours or the path others choose for you’.
In disguise, Enola left home enroute to London but she coincided with another runaway aristocrat, Tewkesbury in the train and helped the guy to escape assassination when both teenagers jumped off the train. They parted ways but the universe has ways of bringing people together if they are meant to be.
Sherlock Holmes was a renowned detective, so Enola Holmes travelled under the claim that she was an undercover, assistant of Sherlock Holmes. In London, she diligently sought to find her mother, she saw traces and leads to locating her mother who is now actively working for women inclusion in the political space in England and pushing the reform bill. She realized that her mother was dangerous and had a plan just like her brothers had said.
However, she shifted focus from finding her mother to finding and saving Tewkesbury, the young aristocrat when she realized that his life is in danger. As a result of the mentally stimulating training Enola got from her mother, she was able to locate Tewkesbury who was still being sought by an assassinator. Enola’s effort helped to unravel that Tewkesbury’s grandmother was the main enemy who wanted to kill her grandson in order to gain a seat for Tewkesbury’s uncle at the House of Lords.
On this mission, she was exposed to being found by her brother, Mycroft Holmes. He did found her and successfully enrolled her in a finishing school but she was helped to escape by the same Tewkesbury she was on a mission to save.
Even Sherlock recognized that his sister Enola Holmes is witty enough to be a good detective when he visited her at the finishing school and he left her with this line of words that later turned to be useful to Enola, ‘Sometimes you must dangle your feet in the water in order to attract the sharks’.
In this movie, I appreciated the value of taking one step ahead of the enemy even in the least subtle means. For instance, the part where Enola was almost killed by Tewkesbury’s assassinator but for the hard corset she wore underneath her gown, the assassinator’s knife would have slitted through her and the scene where the Grandmother shot at Tewkesbury. I was sad 😔that Tewkesbury had died then he suddenly jolted to life because he had a breastplate on. I heaved a sigh of relief to realize that the breastplate didn’t let the bullet penetrate into his body.
Tewkesbury and Enola got romantic 😍 as the movie progressed to its end and that was well deserved for the characters and audience. Enola and her mother reunited, though it was just for few minutes, this scene was a touching one. Also, the reform bill (that Enola’s mother pushed for) was passed due to Tewkesbury’s presence in the House of Lords, thanks to Enola’s wits.
A remarkable scene that made me smile while watching this movie is to see Sherlock Holmes brief proud laugh at the knowledge that his sister had unraveled the Tewkesbury’s grandmother crime before he did. Sherlock is proud of his sister and he eventually took over as Enola’s guardian from Mycroft. I also like the line when Enola told Tewkesbury ‘This is what my mother raised me for, to find the answers we need’
The movie ended with Enola’s monologue,
‘My name is Enola, which backwards spelt Alone. To be alone you must find your own path…but I now see that being alone doesn’t mean I have to be lonely. Mother never wanted that. She wanted me to find my future, my purpose. I am a detective, I am a decipherer and I am a finder of lost souls. My life is my own and the future is up to us.’
You feel those words? Yeaaahhh…what a remarkable way to end such movie. Trust you enjoyed the movie review of Enola Holmes.
Have a great week, month and year ahead Difers. Je t’aime mon ami🤗🤗🤗