Vast Landscapes

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2017)

Essentially a film in two parts, the first hour of 'Lion' covers the struggles of a young Indian boy who gets separated from his family in the 1980s, while the second half deals with the boy now grown up, living with an adoptive family in Australia and keen to track his birth mother and actual family down. With a significant chunk of time omitted in between these time periods, 'Lion' never quite feels cohesive, however, both time periods are encapsulating and the film therefore manages to tell two compelling tales within the one film. With large, expressive eyes, first time actor Sunny Pawar as excellent as the protagonist as a boy who finds himself weary and unable to trust anyone after the separation from his family, and eerily enough, none of the authority figures he meets have even heard of his hometown. Equally as good is Dev Patel as the boy grown up who, after learning about Google Earth, becomes 'A Beautiful Mind'-like obsessed with tracking down his Indian family, quitting his job, walls covered in maps and pins, etc. This section of the film may have benefited from a greater depiction of the toll his quest has on his health (physical and mental) and livelihood, driven nearly over the brink by his unwillingness to tell his foster parents of his search, lest they be offended - however it is all interesting to watch all the same. Nicole Kidman is also solid in a small but pivotal role as his foster mother and the aerial photography throughout appropriately captures the vastness of not only India but Australia, emphasising just how significant an achievement his search is.