A superb beginning and end

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2018)

Based on a true story: In rural India in the 1980s, Saroo (Sunny Pawar) is a five year-old boy from a poor family. After being separated from his family in a bizarre incident, he is eventually adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). During his adult life in Melbourne (portrayed by Dev Patel at this point), a flashback memory gives him the urge to find his birth family despite very difficult odds.
In the movie's first section in India, director Garth Davis collaborates perfectly with young actor Pawar as they take the viewer down the memory lane of childhood. While Saroo's plight is more severe than most of us have ever experienced, these early scenes can easily recall one's own childhood experience of the vulnerability of being separate from loved ones and surrounded by strangers. In the portrayal of Saroo as a young boy, Pawar is easily loveable as he brings the perfect mix of innocence and vulnerability plus wisdom and courage beyond his years. It would be proven later that Saroo's inner-strength was exceptional compared to other children who shared his fate.
Most of the movie's second half has less impact than the earlier scenes. Patel's performance is good enough but it has less depth than that of Pawar in the continuation of the main role. It's like a relay race in which the first runner is way ahead in the race but when he passes the baton to the second runner, the team starts falling behind. It doesn't help that Rooney Mara, who plays Saroo's girlfriend, is equally lacking in depth. The scenes between Patel and Mara are the movie's weakest moments.
But there are some blessings in the second half. Kidman lights up the screen every time she's on it. Sadly though, like the Michelle Williams role in the recent "Manchester by the Sea", Kidman's role is too small.
The biggest saving grace for the second half is its final scene which is truly magical. There's also a bonus in how the viewer learns how this movie got its title.
"Lion" can be placed in the same category of "Philomena" among rich films based on adopted children trying to find their biological families.