Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

I really did love the first movie, but this one is even better. Enola, Sherlock's ward and younger sister, has a better sense of herself, is more self assured, and there is less of a need to endlessly go over the back story, so there is more time for action. Enola is not a junior Sherlock Holmes (who is also not as gelled as a detective as he was in the original stories. She is her own person, less analytical than he is and more empathetic. She is observant and determined, and she has great fighting skills and a good command of mechanical physics. She also has enormous courage, both physical and moral. The film opens with her racing through the London streets, being chased by two Bobbies. She stops to address us, as she does with great charm and wit throughout. The story is centered on a real historical event. In the movie Enola is tsked with finding Sarah Chapman, who has disappeared from both where she lives and the match stick factory where she works. Sarah was part of The Match Girls’ Strike in 1888. It was an industrial action taken up by the workers of the Bryant and May factory against the dangerous and unrelenting demands which endangered their health with very little remuneration. The rest of the story is fictional, but a nice reminder of where we were and what poor women were exposed to in the work place.