Year: 2016
Director: Garth Davis
Starring: Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, and David Wenham
Tagline: The search begins.
Synopsis: A young Indian boy accidentally ends up nearly a thousand miles from home and lost. He is eventually adopted by an Australian couple. As an adult, he uses Google Earth to search for the family he lost.
Tagline: The search begins.
Synopsis: A young Indian boy accidentally ends up nearly a thousand miles from home and lost. He is eventually adopted by an Australian couple. As an adult, he uses Google Earth to search for the family he lost.
Review
If I had to sum up Lion in two words, it would be "beautiful" and "heart-wrenching." This is one of the films nominated for Best Picture. It's also nominated for five other Academy Awards and it deserves each nomination. Even if it doesn't win any of the awards, it deserves to be seen. Why? Because it is an amazing story that is beautifully told. And what makes it all the more special is that it is based on a true story that unfolded this decade.
With the story being based on a true story, there is a certain amount of inevitability to it. There aren't any surprise twists. We know five-year-old Saroo is going to get lost and that some 25 years later he will again find his birth family. This isn't a story about surprises, it's a story about the journey, physically and emotionally. And it is a beautiful journey, beautiful in its story and in its cinematography.
The acting in the film is outstanding. Dev Patel (older Saroo) and Nicole Kidman (his adopted mother, Sue) carry the film emotionally. But newcomer Sunny Pawar as young Saroo is the true gem. To get such honest emotion from someone so young is impressive. I forgot I was watching an actor.
One thing the film does well is how immersive the first half is. It is filmed in India and all the dialogue is in Hindi with subtitles. Those are real streets and real slums and real dark alleys. Yes, this is a movie, but it reminds you that far from the comforts of our middle-class American homes is a very different world. And yet it is not so different. Kamla loves her children and is doing her best to provide for them. Guddu is a loving and protective older brother. Saroo is happy in his life, not knowing anything different. They may not have much, but they have each other ... until they don't.
After Saroo is safely adopted by John and Sue Brierley, we skip ahead to adult Saroo, now thoroughly acclimated to his life in Tasmania. He's going to business school and has a girlfriend (portrayed by Rooney Mara). But he starts feeling a hole in his life. And memories of his former life and his lost family begin to haunt him. Cue Google Earth and an amazing (though undoubtedly tedious) search for something that looks familiar. Saroo's search is much more compelling than watching someone scroll through train lines on a computer. It affects his relationships, with his girlfriend, with his adopted brother (also from India), and with his adopted parents (who he hides his search from). Through it all, the emotions are real and relatable.
Lion is rated PG-13 for some mild sensuality and thematic material. Probably you wouldn't want any kids in the audience because they might be traumatized at the prospect of getting lost. But there are also a couple of scenes where young Saroo narrowly avoids being taken by men whose motivations are anything but good. Nothing is clearly stated. But it doesn't take much imagination to figure out how they would exploit children. I don't recall any swearing. There might have been a word or two.
Unfortunately, Lion didn't get a very wide release or much publicity. I hope the Oscar nominations change that. It is a quiet film, in the sense that there are no explosions or car chases or gunfights. And again, the first half of the film is entirely in Hindi with subtitles. If you love a good story, I think you'll love Lion. And if you are a mother or a father, maybe bring extra tissues.
*** Spoiler Section ***
As heart-wrenching as the first half of the movie is, the hardest part for me was learning that Guddu had died the very same night that Saroo vanished. I can't even fathom what their poor mother went through.
The other thing that got me was the actual footage shown before the credits. It is of Saroo's second trip to India, where he brings his mother Sue to meet his mother Kamla. Yep, there were some tears on my part as his two mothers embraced. That's when it really hits home that this was a true story about real people.
It was after that when we finally learn why the film was entitled "Lion" rather than "A Long Way Home" like the memoir. All those years Saroo had been mispronouncing his own name. His birth name was "Sheru" which is Hindi for -- you guessed it -- "lion."
Although it is not in the film, and I have no idea if it is credited in Saroo's memoir, I could not watch the film without seeing a Divine hand watching over Saroo as a child and guiding him again as an adult. That Saroo was able to survive on his own in Kolkata at age 5 and never get taken by child traffickers is miraculous. And I do not believe Saroo simply got lucky while scrolling -- after years of scrolling -- and thus found something familiar. For me, this story is a reminder that God is mindful of all His children and watches over them in numerous ways.
With the story being based on a true story, there is a certain amount of inevitability to it. There aren't any surprise twists. We know five-year-old Saroo is going to get lost and that some 25 years later he will again find his birth family. This isn't a story about surprises, it's a story about the journey, physically and emotionally. And it is a beautiful journey, beautiful in its story and in its cinematography.
The acting in the film is outstanding. Dev Patel (older Saroo) and Nicole Kidman (his adopted mother, Sue) carry the film emotionally. But newcomer Sunny Pawar as young Saroo is the true gem. To get such honest emotion from someone so young is impressive. I forgot I was watching an actor.
One thing the film does well is how immersive the first half is. It is filmed in India and all the dialogue is in Hindi with subtitles. Those are real streets and real slums and real dark alleys. Yes, this is a movie, but it reminds you that far from the comforts of our middle-class American homes is a very different world. And yet it is not so different. Kamla loves her children and is doing her best to provide for them. Guddu is a loving and protective older brother. Saroo is happy in his life, not knowing anything different. They may not have much, but they have each other ... until they don't.
After Saroo is safely adopted by John and Sue Brierley, we skip ahead to adult Saroo, now thoroughly acclimated to his life in Tasmania. He's going to business school and has a girlfriend (portrayed by Rooney Mara). But he starts feeling a hole in his life. And memories of his former life and his lost family begin to haunt him. Cue Google Earth and an amazing (though undoubtedly tedious) search for something that looks familiar. Saroo's search is much more compelling than watching someone scroll through train lines on a computer. It affects his relationships, with his girlfriend, with his adopted brother (also from India), and with his adopted parents (who he hides his search from). Through it all, the emotions are real and relatable.
Lion is rated PG-13 for some mild sensuality and thematic material. Probably you wouldn't want any kids in the audience because they might be traumatized at the prospect of getting lost. But there are also a couple of scenes where young Saroo narrowly avoids being taken by men whose motivations are anything but good. Nothing is clearly stated. But it doesn't take much imagination to figure out how they would exploit children. I don't recall any swearing. There might have been a word or two.
Unfortunately, Lion didn't get a very wide release or much publicity. I hope the Oscar nominations change that. It is a quiet film, in the sense that there are no explosions or car chases or gunfights. And again, the first half of the film is entirely in Hindi with subtitles. If you love a good story, I think you'll love Lion. And if you are a mother or a father, maybe bring extra tissues.
*** Spoiler Section ***
As heart-wrenching as the first half of the movie is, the hardest part for me was learning that Guddu had died the very same night that Saroo vanished. I can't even fathom what their poor mother went through.
The other thing that got me was the actual footage shown before the credits. It is of Saroo's second trip to India, where he brings his mother Sue to meet his mother Kamla. Yep, there were some tears on my part as his two mothers embraced. That's when it really hits home that this was a true story about real people.
It was after that when we finally learn why the film was entitled "Lion" rather than "A Long Way Home" like the memoir. All those years Saroo had been mispronouncing his own name. His birth name was "Sheru" which is Hindi for -- you guessed it -- "lion."
Although it is not in the film, and I have no idea if it is credited in Saroo's memoir, I could not watch the film without seeing a Divine hand watching over Saroo as a child and guiding him again as an adult. That Saroo was able to survive on his own in Kolkata at age 5 and never get taken by child traffickers is miraculous. And I do not believe Saroo simply got lucky while scrolling -- after years of scrolling -- and thus found something familiar. For me, this story is a reminder that God is mindful of all His children and watches over them in numerous ways.
Quotable Quotes
- "I'm sorry you couldn't have blank slates. You didn't just adopt us, you adopted our histories as well." -- Saroo to Sue
- "So this is where you've been." -- Sue to Saroo, after seeing his maps
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