To See or Not to See: Lion

A lost child is every parent’s worst nightmare, and a reunion with their parents is every lost child’s dream. Both are explored in Lion, an emotional film based on an incredible true story.

**Warning: spoilers ahead**

Adapted from Saroo Brierley’s memoir A Long Way Home, Lion swings between the past and the present. The beginning of the film shows us Saroo’s (Sunny Pawar) childhood in India. Living in a small village, his single parent mother, Kamla (Priyanka Bose) works in a rock quarry, leaving her oldest son, Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), in charge of Saroo and their younger sister.

One day, Guddu decides to find some night work a few villages away, and Saroo begs to go along. Once they disembark the train a few villages away, Guddu instructs Saroo to stay on the train platform until he returns. When Saroo awakes, though, Guddu is nowhere to be found. So, he goes back to sleep in an empty train car. Waking up in Calcutta, several hundred miles away, Saroo must survive on the streets of the overpopulated, poor city. Eventually, he gets adopted by a loving Australian couple, Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham).

Fast forward about twenty years. Saroo (Dev Patel) is taking hotel management courses and haunted by the family he lost. With new technology–Google Earth–he embarks on a quest to find the village he came from. Over the course of years, Saroo searches at the expense of his family relationships and romantic relationships. This story does have a happy ending, though, because Saroo does indeed find his village, and his mother.

The first part of Lion is done with minimal dialogue and beautiful landscape shots. The dreamy quality of his loving childhood is juxtaposed with the harsh, unfriendly world of Calcutta. The second half is not quite as engaging–mostly due to time constraints. There wasn’t enough time to explore Saroo’s current family dynamics (specifically relating to his fellow adopted brother, Mantosh played by Divian Ladwa), or how attached he was to his adoptive parents. However, the story itself outweighs these shortcomings. It is unbelievable (in a good way) that Saroo’s story is a real one. Additionally, the performances from both Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel as Saroo were wonderful. They shared a vividness and perseverance that made Saroo burrow into your heart. You will definitely need a few tissues throughout the viewing of this film.

Indeed, Lion is a story that pulls at the heartstrings. It is a reminder that, sometimes, good things do happen.

★ ★ ★ ★ out of 4

Photo Credit: Long Way Home Productions 2015