Intelligent, sensible and uplifting

Rating: 8/10 (23 January 2017)

Slow, thoughtful and intelligent, Lion expertly and refreshingly avoids the typical clichés of the based-on-a-true-story-for-awards-season formula.
The narrative, aptly split into two disparate narrative and linguistic halves, follows the real life events of Saroo, a young Indian boy who is lost on a train heading to Calcutta, wandering lost and alone for two months until he was brought to an orphanage and eventually adopted by an Australian family and relocated to Tasmania. Growing up forgetting is own mother tongue but never his family, his search for the exact whereabouts of his hometown and family, increasingly take a toll on his priorities.
Garth Davis and Greg Fraser expertly capture the essence of loss and despair as well as familiarity and passion, in both Indian and Australian contexts, accentuating their intrinsic contrasting characteristics, while maintaining the characters' guiding thread. Films like Lion are hard to come by; the true story at the base is equally as important to the narrative as the way it is told: prudently and gratifyingly, supported by a minor yet powerhouse by Kidman.