I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Really enjoyed this movie. The young girl is wonderful. Good movie of a great true story.

"And what's your name? My name is Mr. Reception Desk. That's a nice name. ""Noble" is nothing more than a biographical film about the (for me anyway unknown) Irish Christina Noble (Deirdre O'Kane). After a troubled and difficult life she has set a noble (Yep) target. Namely to offer the street children of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam a better future. Mostly you see Christina in Vietnam moving heaven and earth to achieve her goal. A not so obvious task in which she has to convince the authorities and at the same time she tries to jolt foreign businessmen's consciences, so they are generous enough with their financial support. And so she tries to set up a shelter for those children in postwar Vietnam.There's one thing you have to admit. This exceptional lady has sufficient reserves in terms of perseverance. Despite all the setbacks in her youth and the opposition she faces in Vietnam, she never gives up. And this thanks to her positive attitude. Throughout the film you're looking back at the turbulent life of Christina. It all starts in the slums of Dublin in the 40s. As a little girl (Gloria Cramer Curtis) she dreams of becoming such a famous singer like Doris Day. When her mother dies of tuberculosis and her father is unable to support his family (due to an alcohol problem), she ends up in a nunnery. In later life she's (Sarah Greene) a victim of a gang rape which in turn results in an unwanted pregnancy and her newborn son to be adopted. After moving to Birmingham with her best friend Joan (Ruth Negga), she is confronted with a cheating spouse and domestic violence. So you can safely say that Christina's life wasn't exactly rosy.Perhaps that's why Christina demonstrates these unconstrained efforts when she arrives (thanks to a vision) in Vietnam. She is shocked by the appalling conditions in which children have to survive there. Perhaps the traumas of her own life are an extra motivation and she wants to give these poor children what she had missed all her life. A bit of security, affection, love and a hope for a better future. For her, poverty in Vietnam is equal to that what she experienced in Ireland.Although the film lends itself to become a melodramatic tearjerker, they knew to avoid this anyway. Obviously Christina Noble isn't the only benefactress in this ruthless world. But her commitment and determination ensured that "The Christina Noble Children's Foundation" has already helped hundreds of thousands of children. Most likely this film will be broadcasted as an ordinary television drama. But the performances of the different Christina's are of an exceptionally high level. And despite the realistic and deadly serious story-line, they managed to incorporate a sliver of humor by means of a hilarious hotel receptionist. And in all honesty. This time it wasn't really bothering me that they used such a predictably happy ending once again.More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

This is based on the real life of Christina Noble. She is an Irishwoman who hails from Dublin. The film chronicles her life in flashback form. But we start in Vietnam in 1989; the terrible wars are over but never forgotten I fear. The scars are everywhere including in the many street children, some of whom have been orphaned and others have trauma that has left them fending for themselves in a country that is trying to rebuild itself with scant resources.Enter Christina and she immediately knows that she has to help, not so easy in a country that has had enough interference from foreigners. We also see what happened to her when she was growing up in Ireland and the abuse and suffering she had to endure. Some of her experiences would be enough to make the strongest give up, buy she seems made of very rare stuff indeed.To say this is inspirational is an understatement and I stumbled on this as it stars Deidre O'Kane who played the mother in the great 'Moone Boy' series. She is simply superb in this as indeed are the entire cast. Special mention to Liam Cunningham who plays her alcoholic father and puts in a brutal but convincing performance. I had few expectations of this but once it got started I was blown away. This is one you will want to recommend to your friends.

While this is all sourced as being based on a true story, I almost find that hard to accept, simply because of the sheer number of hurdles involved, on top of the appropriate naming of the titular character, Christina Noble.The film straddles two different arcs; on one hand is the early life of Christina, and all the hardships she faced, and it's incredibly bleak. It makes it all the more impressive to me with how bright and energetic a character Christina is by both actresses that play her as a child and a young woman, and it does feel like the same character the entire way. Christina's Irish upbringing also is somewhat familiar cinematically now as the state of Ireland's treatment of children was showcased recently in another true story, Philomena.While her early life is simply, well, tragic, the other arc is of much more mixed tone, as she travels to Vietnam after her kids have grown up, now played by Deirdre O'Kane, and she does a great job as Christina, from the humour and tenderness to the strength and determination. She takes the role very naturally, and her portrayal of Christina is very warm, and I think part of this may be O'Kane's involvement with Christina Noble's charity beforehand, so I think her performance was strengthened by her personal investment. As she finds a calling helping the homeless children of Vietnam, and tries to figure out how to help, she serves as this great and uplifting protagonist, all the more impressive given that this is, again, actually a true story and really did happen, to at least some extent.In Vietnam, the story isn't simply carried by O'Kane, but has a great set of supporting roles. Right off the bat, the employee at the hotel front desk that calls himself "Mr. Front Desk" or some such thing has a great role as this begrudgingly helpful curmudgeon, and almost all his lines were great, both in writing, and in performance (and I'm somewhat annoyed that I don't remember a name ever being used for him for me to give the actor proper due). The children in the film are great, and a few of them even have more involved roles, and they actually have all been, or still are, helped by Christina Noble's charity and that makes me all the more impressed by their involvement as well.It would be very easy of me to criticise the overly dramatic nature of this film and it's lack of believability, but what's so impressive is that I don't think it actually did take that many liberties to make it the story it is, and as raw as the film is, it's genuine. It does make the film much more powerful, and the points it makes about being poor being a constant experience anywhere is a very salient one, and the way Christina steps up the challenges in Vietnam is extremely compelling. There's so many social elements on both small and large scales that this film touches upon, and that's quite impressive.There's something I find very moving about a film with such a vibrant person as Christina Noble (as depicted, but apparently fairly accurate) that faces so many challenges with that strength.